Legend of Zelda: A Link from the Past
by Running Ninja
Summary: Link has been kicked out of every inn in Castle Town and Kakariko for screaming himself awake. But Zelda hatches a plan and sends him 7 years into the future, to his future self, a lonely bachelor. Surely two Links can sort out their problems...right?
1. Homeless Hero

This story promises to be fairly interesting. I must say I was very proud of the title. I do not own Legend of Zelda.

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

_Homeless Hero_

Link woke screaming. The lady at the inn was shaking him awake. "Blasted child!" she yelled, "You're waking all the guests!"

Link's eyes snapped open, wide, wild and terrified. The room was shivering in a memory of terror. Panic riddled him, dreams of being seized by a power so much greater than him, tearing his shape as he contorted desperately in space and time, sucked into the grasp of a wooden mask until he became what it kept inside. He was cloaked in sweat and his heart pounded in his jaw. The lady who ran the inn had smacked him to get him awake; his cheek still sang with the numbness. He sat there quivering, chilled with sweat, the face of the inn lady drooping as she watched him. He looked so sad, so frightened, and so alone.

Back in Termina, Link had a purpose, a reason to endure the horrors thrown at him, but now that he was safe in Hyrule, his mind wouldn't let them go. Every night they ravaged his sleep, if he managed to sleep at all. He had barely slept since he made it out of Termina, as exhausted as he had been. Where was he supposed to sleep anyway? He'd been kicked out of half the inns in Kakariko and Castletown for screaming until all the guests were woken, and the dark and damp of the temples only worsened his fear. Zelda had tried to house him when he told her of his plight, but he was hauled screaming from the castle and dumped out on the path in the wee hours of the morning, once again, for screaming.

The lady sighed. She felt sorry for the poor boy, trembling, his eyes framed by deep circles that had collected beneath them.

"How many inns have you been kicked out of?" she asked gently.

"Six," he sniffled.

"Does this happen often?"

"Every night."

To say her heart went out to him would be an understatement. "Do you have any family?" she tried.

"No," he answered.

"Friends?"

"They left me," Link wiped his nose. He was utterly miserable, and there was no one he could go to. He no longer had the heart for the play of the Kokiri in the forest—after so much had happened, he couldn't think about silly things anymore. And even Navi, bound to him by the Deku tree, had left. He realized now how much he had taken her for granted. And in trying to find her again he had wound up in Termina. His days alternated between numb to everything and too tired to do any more than lie in Hyrule field until the Stalphos woke at night, and his instincts made him fight.

The inn lady was still watching him. "So you're all alone, huh?"

Link nodded miserably. He had done so much for Hyrule, and through it all he had never made a place for himself for when the battles were over and his spirit was weary. Darunia was busy ruling a kingdom, Ruto wanted to play trivial games, and though Saria would sit beside him in silence for hours, he knew that she didn't understand him. The Gerudo had turned him away from their gates, and Malon would watch him with big eyes and ask what had happened to him, why was he so sad? Why could he never sleep? Why are you crying?

If Link had an answer to those problems, they wouldn't be problems anymore. He would do something to fix them. But he didn't know what to do. And so he sat there, shivering on the bed as the inn lady watched him sadly.

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><p>"Now lift your sword a little bit more…that's it!"<p>

A toothy blonde two-year-old grinned up at the Hero of Time, his huge wooden sword making him look all the smaller.

"There you go! Now try and block me again—great job!"

"Link! It's time for supper!" called Zelda from inside.

The toothy two-year-old gave Link a huge grin, which the Hero returned. "Go on inside to your mother. I'll take your sword," he said as the boy went bobbing off.

As he watched the little boy be greeted by a hug from Zelda, a tall man came to stand next to Link.

"Well, Hero, how does my boy fare in swordplay?" the man asked.

"Very well, Your Majesty," Link returned. "I daresay he lives up to his namesake."

The King chuckled and lightly punched Link in the shoulder. "We named him after you for a reason," he chuckled again, "I only hope that when you have a son of your own, you don't do the same thing."

Link laughed wholeheartedly. "That would be very confusing indeed, Your Highness."

"Yes, it would, Prince Link running around with your son Link….and if you were there as well it would greatly complicate things. Prince Link, Real Link, and Link Jr."

"You are very right, sir. I can only hope that one day I am graced with a son as wonderful as your own," Link replied.

The King chuckled again. "I'm sure you will someday Link. After all, with half the women already naming their children after you, the ones without children would all be more than glad to take your hand. And not being tied to royalty, you would be free to marry whoever you like," he said kindly. "I do ask though, that you decide soon. The ladies of the court simply dissolve into giggles whenever you enter."

Link snorted. "Well, you know what they say, there's nothing like a man in a green tunic."

The King howled with laughter.

"Even if that man is about seven years behind in aging," Link added.

"I don't think that sways you, Link. Though it was surprising when Zelda's attempts to send you back to regain those years failed."

"Yes, it was rather strange. But I am glad that I get to spend time with your son, King Jerome."

"And it is a pleasure that my son has his own namesake to guide him," King Jerome answered. "But if you excuse me, I must go and eat dinner with my family."

"It was a pleasure speaking with you, as always, Your Highness," Link answered, bowing deeply to the King in farewell. The King returned the gesture with his own shallow adaption, and then headed off to where his son had run, still laughing and shaking his head.

As he turned back to see the King greeted by his two-year-old son, a sadness settled in Link's chest. He was happy for Zelda, very happy.

But he had never gotten the Princess.


	2. A Triforce of Wisdom Thing

I do not own the Legend of Zelda.

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

_A Triforce of Wisdom Thing_

A young Zelda was sitting in her room, contemplating the blank piece of paper before her. While Link had been in Termina reliving the same hellish three days again and again, Zelda had been realizing a great many things.

She dipped her pen in ink and drew a line across the page. But in a sudden thought she crumpled it and chucked it towards the trash bucket. It missed.

Now she drew two branches, and after sitting down to examine them for a time, began feverishly scratching dashes across them and littering the white space with carefully refined ten year old scrawl. How odd her nurses found her behavior, but as usual, they never questioned Princess Zelda's choice of pastime.

Zelda smiled a little at the word. Pastime. How very funny. She was after all, thinking about time, the passage of time, and the past, all in her pastime. How fitting.

At last she lifted her pen and blew the page dry. She smiled at her plan. It made a lot of sense. It was all the confusions of her memories fit neatly into a square sheet of paper, all so sensibly. It was the past that now lay in the future and the current turn of events, all organized into her nice visual. She was quite proud of herself.

But the Princess frowned. There was still a problem. A rather large problem. She had tried to help the boy, but she had known instantly she wasn't the one who could. She was too young and knew too little of battle. She had tried to help besides the fact but…at twelve years old even a princess only holds so much power. The King wouldn't hold for a screaming boy to wake the castle dwellers, much less stay with his princess. And Zelda couldn't explain the whole thing to her father—he would think her mad. Her maids already did. The only person who could vouch for her was a kid in green off the street.

She examined the paper once more. If she didn't do something about the boy however, there was a chance his problems would become irreversible. And besides the fact she didn't want the permanent hell life of anyone on her hands, he would never be able to save the kingdom in a situation like that. And he was the only one who could stop Ganondorf before he rose to power again. Or in the case that he did rise to power, Link was still the only one who could stop him.

But a boy traumatized to insanity could never do that. Besides, it panged Zelda's heart to think of him. There was no one who understood everything he'd been through—and there was no way he could explain it. He's seen things Zelda couldn't imagine, faced trials she failed to comprehend. She had tried to comfort him, but comfort wasn't what he needed.

What Link needed was someone who not only knew what he'd been through, but had knowledge of what to do about it. And, Zelda thought, the only person with any idea of at least what he'd been through was himself. He had seen things—wait no, that was it! That was it! She had it!

Zelda practically spilled ink all over her dress as she rushed from the room. She halted midstep. But that was so risky, she risked rupturing the space-time….no, no she didn't. The only thing it would affect were Link's actions in the future, and that was exactly what she needed it to do.

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><p>Link walked around Castle Town morosely. He no longer had any desire to go bowling or to play archery games. As if in a dream he chased down an old lady's dog and returned it to her, yet again. But the lady only worried at the deep bags under his eyes. And Link didn't have the heart to console her. He was in need too much for kind words himself. He'd tried to tell himself that "It would be okay," but he only found himself dwelling on the fact that he was the reason it was okay. He had saved Termina and brought peace to Hyrule. If he couldn't help himself, he didn't see how anyone could.<p>

As he was wandering he found himself in front of the Temple of Time. Maybe if he understood the magic behind it, he would understand his misery a little better, he thought, taking a step up to it's grand wooden doors.

"Link! Hey Link!" a familiar voice shouted to him. He turned in surprise to see none other than Princess Zelda running towards him, deserting her escorts, a crumpled paper in her hand.

"Zelda?" he asked.

"That's Princess Zelda to you, young man!" one of the guards near the Temple snapped.

Zelda glared at the soldier. "He's my friend. I owe him very much. He can call me whatever he wants," she turned back to the little Hero, "I've found a way to help you."

"A….way to help me?"

"Yep. You'll have to follow me."

Link followed Zelda into the Temple of Time. "I'm not sure it will work right now," she added, signaling for the guards to stay at the entrance, "because it involves a lot of very complicated things."

Zelda's life, Link had learned, involved a lot of very complicated things. He often wondered if this was why she had the Triforce of Wisdom, or if it was because she had the Triforce of Wisdom. Either way, it was all very confusing.

"What do you know about timelines?" Zelda wheeled on Link.

"Umm, well…they explain when things happened in time," he tried.

Zelda considered this. "You are right," she said, "but do you know anything about _the_ timeline?"

_The_ timeline? Link was confused.

"It would be normal if you didn't," Zelda consoled. "I'm not sure anybody else does." She walked up the steps to the place where the Master Sword was housed. Link followed, hoping sincerely he wouldn't have to take the sword. But he paused, as Zelda stopped walking and stood there in the chamber, her arms wide and her eyes closed. He figured it was a Triforce of Wisdom thing.

Zelda turned to him again. "We are very lucky," she said, "I have a few minutes to explain."

Link's face fell to shock.

"When I sent you back in time, it created a loophole in time, you could say. But in reality it's more like a split. In other words, there are two Hyrules, one where you and I are adults and one where we are kids—that would be the one we are in right now.

"Do you remember how I spent seven years as Sheik while Ganondorf rose to rule and then you defeated him and the seven sages sealed him away?" she asked. Link nodded. Zelda took a deep breath before continuing, "That time still exists," she said simply, "And things will go on to happen in that timeline. You—or rather your older version, will get married and have kids. And in the same way, things will continue to happen in this timeline—most importantly that when Ganondorf tries to rise to rule again you will stop him before he has a chance. And in doing this, will be two alternate Hyrules, with the same past up to a certain point, but completely different futures."

There was a pause as Link considered this. "What does this have to do with me?" he asked hesitantly. The presence of the Master Sword was unnerving him a tiny bit, and he wasn't quite sure why. While Zelda's Triforce Shard had made her able to see alternate dimensions as well as the past, future, and present rolled together, Link's seemed to be doing nothing. He was afraid of a simple sword that, in a future he would no longer live, he had used with no fear at all.

Zelda saw this. She gave Link a hard look, boring into him with her blue eyes. Link was taken up short, and swallowed deeply. Had he done something wrong?

"How long has it been since Termina?" Zelda asked.

"H-half a year," Link stuttered.

Zelda nodded. "And it still troubles you?"

"Y-yes."

Zelda put her hand to her chin, and, still staring into Link with her sharp eyes, said, "I know that it's hard for you. You have seen things I can never imagine. And that's why I'm doing this for you." Link set his face as best he could.

"Link, you need three things right now. A friend, a home, and time. Promise me that when you get back, you'll be ready to ready to face the world again?"

Link nodded solemnly.

"Alright. You'll need your Ocarina."

Link tightly grasped the blue flute in his hands, as Zelda pulled out her own flute, which was tiny and gold. She played a simple melody, a variation on the Song of Time. Chills ran up and down Link's spine at the memory of how many times he'd stopped the end of the world with that song.

"Before you go," Zelda said, "Know this. You'll be going into the future that I sent you back from. Nothing that you do will affect the past, so don't worry about that. You will, however, meet the Link from that timeline."

Link nodded slowly. "Oh," Zelda added, "and the older Zelda won't know about this. She and I, like you and the older Link, have become two separate people, living two separate lives in two separate Hyrules."

Link nodded again, raising the ocarina to his mouth. "To get back," Zelda finished, "you only need to play this song again." She then smiled a little. "I'd say goodbye, but I'll be seeing you again very soon. Good luck, Link."

And with that, she played the melody again, and Link closed his eyes and repeated it.

The world spun. Forces blended midair in front of Link, and inertia tugged him three separate ways, which funneled down into two directions, until at last he was whirling away, churning as time smeared together.

He dropped out into a stone hallway, the ocarina still to his mouth, his brain filled with the sensation of having fallen but his body planted firmly as if he had never moved. Turning, he saw a green courtyard and a large wooden door. It smelled of rain and wet stone. He raised his hand and knocked three times.

In answer to the man in green who opened the door, he held out the Ocarina of Time.

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><p>And that, my friends, is why it is called A Link from the Past.<p> 


	3. Horse Ride With a Past Self

I do not own Legend of Zelda.

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

_A Horse Ride with a Past Self_

Link looked down at Link, his face coated with shock. The little boy held out the Ocarina of Time.

"…Link?" the older boy asked, chills running up and down his spine at the sight of the younger him.

Link with the Ocarina nodded. "Zelda sent me," he said.

The older Link nodded in understanding and opened the door to his younger counterpart. He then closed the door against the rain.

"D-do you have a place to stay?" the taller Link asked.

"No," Link replied. He tucked the ocarina inside his robes and looked up at the nineteen-year-old in green.

"Well…you can stay here," the older Link ended, uncertainty edging his voice.

As little Link turned away, tall Link ran his hand through his hair. He was shocked. His brain had cranked to a stop in its attempt to understand what all of this meant. "How old are you?" he asked carefully.

"I'm supposed to be twelve," little Link answered, "but I've time-traveled a lot."

The other Link grinned. "Your travels have made you old for your age, mine have made me young."

Kid Link cracked a friendly grin and sat down at the table. Link's apartment was sparsely furnished, but the used wood tables and chairs gave it a pleasant, homey feeling.

"Why did Zelda send you here?" the taller Link asked, taking a seat across from his guest.

"She said you could help me."

"Help you?"

Link nodded.

"Oh…" older Link sat back in his chair. Things hadn't been easy for him either. He'd had a few years to catch up on the years he'd lost sealed away in the Temple of Time, but he still found himself easily confused. "Are you from the past?" he asked the short Link across from him.

The other Link considered this. "Sort of," he answered.

"Did Zelda send you back? I mean, back to your old time after you defeated Ganondorf?"

"Yes."

"Really? Because she tried that with me and it didn't work out. I disappeared and wound up near the Forest Temple, but time hadn't changed."

"Oh. I was sent back in time and the road was closed. I put the Master Sword back and then Navi left."

The older Hero studied the table. "She was gone when I woke up in the forest temple. She must have gone back with you."

Kid Link nodded. "I miss her," he whispered.

"She had a deal with the Deku tree, y'know. She was supposed to help you save the kingdom, but she couldn't stay with you forever."

The rain was beating the window that faced the courtyard. Young Link merely nodded in silence and the other didn't press him. After a time, the older Link stood up, the sound of his chair making kid Link jump.

"Well, I'm afraid I only have one bed," the older Hero said, "and you can have it. You look as if you haven't slept in ages."

Kid Link looked up briefly at this, and then lowered his gaze to the woodgrain again. "You hungry?" tried the older Link. The young boy shook his head, coiling into himself again.

Older Link saw this and began to realize why this boy had shown up on his door. He felt sympathy slice across his chest. He tried again. "Do you want to spar?"

Young Link's eyes widened a little bit as he shook his head.

"Ride Epona?" tried the teenage Hero.

Little Link looked up but his gaze remained dull. "Come on," ushered the older Link, waving a hand and snatching a cloak from its peg. With great reluctance the little boy stood up and followed Link out into the rain. Link hastily wrapped the cloak around the little boys shoulders. "I'm afraid," he started, "that even if you get older people will still assume you only like to wear green," he said as the boy wrapped the wool around himself, "I've always hoped that it would get better, but no, it doesn't."

The rain enveloped them as they stepped out into the courtyard, cascading around little Link's wool covered shoulders and flattening big Link's hair, making his pointy ears all the more obvious.

Briskly the taller Link led them, dripping, through hallways and past genial guards who joking said, "Nice weather, eh?" upon seeing the older Hero. Eventually they reached the stable. As little Link stroked Epona's splotched head, his counterpart dared to ask a question that had been egging at his consciousness.

"Hey Link…sooner or later someone's going to ask about you. Did Zelda say what we're supposed to do about that?" his voice echoed across the stables, bubbled in by the white noise of the rain.

"No," little Link called back, his quiet voice carrying less through the air.

"Oh," big Link said as he pulled down his saddle from the wall, a familiar wish popping into his mind…if only he hadn't lost seven years sleeping, maybe he'd know what to do. "I was thinking we could pose as brothers," he tried.

Little Link looked at him seriously. "Our parents are dead."

"I know..." shrugged older Link, "but we can't exactly go around saying that we're timeline displaced versions of ourselves. And at least that explains why we look alike." He secured the saddle around Epona's middle.

Young Link looked at him skeptically. "We still have the same name," he said, "unless you're going to suggest I take a different name."

The older Link froze, and looked at kid Link. "Can you think of a name?" he asked hopefully.

They stared at each other for another moment before they both gave up. "We can just say that my parents thought I'd died long ago, so they named you after their lost son," the elder Hero mused.

"I have a feeling no parent would do that," Link said solemnly.

Big Link shrugged, warming the bit for Epona in his hand. "Unless we can come up with another name, we'll just have to go with it. And for the record, our parents are dead."

Kid Link gave his older brother a hard look. "Oh. I'm sorry," the big Hero shifted uncomfortably, "I didn't mean it like that, I meant that our parents died in the story that we're going to tell everyone."

Young Link turned back to Epona and stared into her bright eyes, curling into himself again. His big brother hefted him atop her. "I'm not sure Zelda realized how immature I am," big Link mused as he climbed atop behind his brother, "would you like to steer?"

Little Link shook his head. "Alright then," his brother responded, flapping the reins and riding Epona out of the stable, into the downpour.

"Any place you want to go?" he shouted against the heavenly onslaught. "No? Alright then buddy, but we'll get really wet either way!" and at his yell Epona took off, her mane flicking water in their faces, the rain washing across them, behind older Link's ears and down the back of his neck. He shook his head like a dog and his bangs clung to his face. He made a mental note to get a second cloak.

Whether young or old, he'd always found that a good run on Epona emptied his mind. He hoped it worked on little Link just as well as they clamored through Castetown and flew towards Hyrule Field.

As they crested a hill, little Link yelled back to him, "Can I have the reins?"

"Sure," he said, delightedly handing them over. The little boy took them and flew off with Epona. With a yell from the boy the horse plunged over a wall and little Link yelled and whooped towards the sky with excitement. Epona surged powerfully beneath them, her muscles honed and her strides precise. At the rush of speed at his fingertips Link chucked his head back and laughed up at the rain, which washed into his eyes and mouth indifferently as his hood fell back.

Big Link couldn't help but grin at the sheer look of joy on his little brother's face. As they galloped like madmen across the plains, the two boys lost all track of time.

When they finally washed up back at Hyrule stables, Link felt exhausted but happier than he'd felt in a long time, and started jabbering excitedly all the way back up to his older brother's quarters. He curled up in front of the fire to dry with big Link, but dozed off into a happy dream for the first time in many months.

The taller brother smiled at the boy wrapped in a blanket and a shirt far too big for him, and carefully picked up the cocooned hero and tucked him into bed, residing himself to a night on the couch.

But he slept more than well.


	4. Royal Company

I do not own the Legend of Zelda.

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

_Royal Company_

Morning came and Link's good mood persisted. He woke from the couch and went about whistling with the kettle while he made breakfast. Eventually a sleep-groggy kid Link wandered out of the bedroom and sat down at the table as his older brother slid hot eggs off the pan into his plate, fluffy and sizzling. He wielded his fork slowly and shoveled the food into his mouth. For a moment Link wondered how his brother knew just how to cook them, but then his chest ached with a strange sort of sad gratefulness as he realized it was because big Link was an older him. It was easy to forget that they knew each other because they were timeline counterparts, and simply assume they knew each other because they were brothers who'd grown up together. They did share a childhood, after all.

"Did you sleep well?" asked the older Link. Kid Link nodded, mouth full of delicious eggs.

"That's good," Link continued, "I slept well too. So what do you want to do today, little brother?"

Kid Link took a long drink of milk before answering. "Can we go see the castle?"

"Of course. You could meet Queen Zelda and her husband, King Jerome."

"She got married?"

"She did. And they have a son now, Prince Link. They named him after us."

"Really?"

"Yep. They thought I'd gone back in time, you know, when I went missing, so they went ahead and named him after me. I showed up the same week he was born. They were pretty surprised."

"Wow. So…now there's three Links in this timeline?"

"Yep. There's enough to make a whole chain. Plenty of other people have been naming their sons after us too. There's at least fifty baby or toddler Links out there."

"Wow. That's weird," kid Link said into his eggs and toast.

"Very strange. But we can guarantee that the name will wear off in a couple generations because of the surge in this generation, and then likely fall out of usage. Until then, I hope they gave them different middle names."

"Yeah," little Link said. "Other wise roll call in school's going to be pretty difficult."

Big Link nodded, turning back to his breakfast as someone knocked on the door. He stood to answer it, finding a castle messenger at the door. "Sir Link," the man said, bowing, "The King and Queen will be out today, on a visit to the Zora domain. They have specifically requested that you take care of their son for the day."

"Oh, of course," Link answered.

"His nurses will bring him down shortly, Master Link," the messenger bowed and was off. Link shut the door and turned to his brother.

"Well Link," he said, "I hope you like Prince Link."

* * *

><p>The Prince toddled joyfully after the pair of brothers through the castle halls. Kid Link's head swiveled as he stared at all the portraits on the walls. He hadn't been inside the castle much in his time, except for the times he saw Zelda, and that was mostly restricted to the courtyard. After conquering Ganondorf, once the castle had been rebuilt, he had been named Hero and then sent back in time, never getting a good view of the inside. He watched the draperies swim throughout the halls, flowing along mantels and enrobing corridors, portraits ensuring that no brick was unwatched. Big Link showed them the throne room briefly, then the banquet hall, the library, and even the small side temples to the goddesses. As the day wore on, big Link turned back to find that little Link's hat had made it unto the head of the Prince. He smiled.<p>

"Link! Link!" cried the little Prince. "This way!" he said as he attempted to drag kid Link into the kitchens.

The door banged open as a cook stepped out. "Oh, terribly sorry," he apologized as little Link swept Prince Link out of the way. The cook smiled at them and bowed to the older Link. But as the oldest Link bowed in return the other two slipped into the noisy kitchens. Link rushed after them, but with so much steam and heat it was difficult to see. The air was heavy with warmth pleasant at first but soon stifling. It reminded Link of the fire temple.

Eventually he found them again, kid Link with Prince on his lap, sitting on a chair he'd found, watching the entire culinary bustle. "There you are," big Link said to the other two, leaning up against the wall next to them and sweeping his azure gaze over the flurry. The air was palpable with a banquet of smells, salty, tangy, sweet, but mostly mouth watering and appetite carving.

They stayed like that for a while, but it wasn't long before one of the cooks was raining tidbits on them. The two youngest ate happily, Prince Link giggling at the jovial cook and kid Link looking like he hadn't eaten a cookie in years. Link thanked the cook for them as he took a pastry of his own. "So, what would you like to do next?" he asked, chewing the tangy, custard filled morsel.

Prince Link considered this before shouting, "Go outside!"

"Are you sure Link?" the oldest asked him. "It's still raining."

"Go see Mommy!"

"Link, Mommy will be back very soon, but we can't see her yet. Why don't we go up to your room and color?"

"Okay!" Prince Link nodded enthusiastically, and the three set off from the kitchens again, waving to the cooks as they left, leaving the steam and flavored air behind.

"Piggy back!" cried Prince Link, and big Link obliged, hefting the toddler unto his shoulders. "Raaa!" the Prince cried, lifting a mock sword into the air, "We kill Ganny!"

From deep inside kid Link, something ruptured, bubbling up and over and before he could stop it he was laughing, stumbling against the wall, squinting his eyes closed as they threatened to stream. Big Link smiled wider than the space between the ground and sky and couldn't help but love the Prince on his shoulders. "Get him!" the toddler cried, and big Link swooped his younger brother into his arms and yelled as he ran down the hall, laughter, squealing, and hollers ringing off the ceiling above them, colliding up the stairway as they climbed. Kid Link tried to catch his feet on the ground, but his brother held him just an inch too high, gripping the ticklish Hero firmly by the armpits.

They ran up the top of the stairs and the tallest Link slung his counterpart over his shoulder as he swung the door to the Prince's chamber open, tumbling to the ground. Both boys fell off of him and kid Link raced to the balcony laughing, the Prince bobbing up and lunging, "Catch him!"

"I'm gonna get you!" yelled 'adult' Link as he crawled along the carpet, his long arms inches from the Prince's heels, making him squeal. Kid Link's hat swung from the toddler's head as he raced into a corner. "Raa!" big Link cried as he cornered his brother and the Prince, corralling them with his arms.

"Aah!" kid Link yelled as he leapt on top of big Link, punching him in the back and knocking him unto his stomach, the Prince hopping to join the horseplay.

"Ah, that actually feels kind of good," big Link said as they pounded his back. "But I'm a goron! I'm gonna squish you!"

He rolled over, but they got away in time, continuing to rain mock fists on him. "Tickle him!" yelled kid Link and the other took it up, and soon the weathered Hero was howling on the ground.

Soon he was chasing them again and they played a million games, chasing the Prince, then the twelve-year old and then the oldest. They had cycled through once more and were flopped on a panting big Link's chest when Queen Zelda and King Jerome entered and were taken back by the sight of the dog pile of green and princely blue castle liveries.

"Oh, hey there," said the oldest as he turned his head towards the door, face splayed in a smile.

"Daddy!" Prince squealed as he lunged off of the Hero and towards the King's outstretched arms.

Big Link stood to greet them. "Good afternoon, your Royal Highnesses. I would be pleased to introduce you to my younger brother, Link," he managed, lending his brother a hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Link," curtsied Zelda. With a slight kick from his brother, young Link hastily returned the gesture with a bow.

"As it is with me," added the King with a dip of his head, meriting another deep bow from the boy. "So you spent the afternoon with Link?" asked the King.

"Uhh…yes," the two Links said in unison, "Sir," kid Link added hastily while the other Link taped on, "Your Highness."

Both the royalty smiled, and the King laughed. "I am afraid I did not make myself entirely clear. I was asking if you spent the afternoon with my son."

"Yes, your Highness," the brother's both said, though the tallestest switched it to "majesty," emitting another blush from both of them and yet another smile from Zelda. The King chuckled.

"Why in Hyrule," he laughed, "did your parents give you both the same name?"

The Links looked at each other for a minute before they both started pointing thumbs and trying to explain.

"He died," kid Link's voice started.

"They…they thought I was dead," big Link attempted.

"So they named me after him," little Link said.

"Because they thought I was dead," big Link finished awkwardly.

They King was looking at them, the Prince perched on his shoulder and sucking a thumb, still wearing the hat. Zelda still found the whole thing comical and smiled as she lifted the Prince down off of Jerome's shoulders. "You look as if you were having a very good time," she said as she set her son on the floor, still smiling.

"Let me get this straight," the King said, "your parents thought you were dead, so they named their next son after you?" Both Links nodded. "So where are your parents now?"

"They died," said kid Link abruptly, and, with another kick from his brother added, "your Highness."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that," the King said. "But it is a pleasure to have you," he added, and the boy bowed. "My son also seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Yes, your Majesty. He is a very good boy."

"Well, Zelda and I still have some business to tend to around the castle. We would appreciate it if you looked after him for a bit longer. We were going to relieve you, but it seems that you were thoroughly enjoying yourselves."

"Yes, your Highness. Thank you," big Link bowed alongside little Link.

The Prince rushed over to the pair again and big Link scooped him up in his arms. "Our son is very lucky to have you," the King finished.

Both Links bowed again and big Link responded, "We are ever so gracious to be in your favor, O King."

The King and Queen smiled, and with a wave left the room. Link put the Prince down on the floor and asked him, "Alright, where were we?"

They lost time once again, rolling around and chasing each other.

Prince Link was waging war upon the oldest Link yet again while the Hero had kid Link locked up in his arms. They were all laughing as big Link ran his knuckles across his brother's scalp. Prince grabbed something on the oldest's belt and yanked a silver dagger from its sheath.

Light flashed off the blade and little Link's world stopped. Walls were closing in on him, terror seizing him. Gripped by panic, his body began to shut down. Desperate to fight, he opened his mouth and screamed. He found himself in big Link's arm and covered his eyes in the green of his tunic. Green, the world was green, not red, he struggled to remind himself.

"Put the knife down, Link," the oldest soothed in the calmest voice he could muster against the unnerving screams coming from his arms. "Link, give me the knife." The toddler, eyes wide, handed it over slowly and Link put it on top of the dresser and wrapped his arms around his younger brother, who was still screaming. He clasped a hand over the boy's mouth and the cry was cut to gargling.

"It's okay Link, it's okay," he whispered, but the boy couldn't breathe. He fought off Link's hand and fell to his knees, coughing. But the coughs were cut short and ragged, and soon he was panting rapidly, less than half a second for each breath, his body trapped in the motion, paralyzing him.

"Hey, hey, easy Link, easy. Breathe slow." He put his hand on the boy's chest and tried to slow the rise and fall. Simply the rhythm of it was chasing his own pulse skyward.

"Breathe, Link, breathe. You can't breathe if you're hyperventilating. Hold your breath." The sound of ragged air choked the room as the little Hero held it in. "Now let it out, slowly." The little hero did, the air catching. "Now focus on breathing. In…out…in…out."

Gradually the twelve-year-old remembered how to breathe. Big Link felt his forehead and the sweat beaded on it. He then turned to the Prince. "Come here," he murmured.

The toddler shook his head.

"Come on, it's okay. Link's all right now. Come here."

The little toddler looked at big Link's outstretched arm and shook his head again. "Come on, please. Come to your uncle and his brother." And at last the Prince went over, and Link wrapped him up next to all of them, kissing Prince on the top of the head, which was still covered by little Link's hat. Big Link's heart fluttered in his chest and his younger brother sat numbly, mind drained of thought and streaked with dread.

The door banged open, causing kid Link to jump and lose his breath all over again. "Hey, easy. Remember what I told you. We did this last time," Link whispered as the boy tried to hold his breath and it snagged in a sob, the pace only quickening, a horse's hooves moving to gallop. "Easy, Link, easy. Calm down. It's okay. You're safe now." Prince got up and bobbed over to his worried mother, who swooped him up and kissed his head. The King and Queen stood there, not daring to speak as their Hero tried to calm his frantic brother. Link tried to forget they were there.

Again kid Link's breath slowed, and his brother closed his eyes in gratefulness, dropping his head back against the dresser.

"Why is there a knife on the table?" the King's voice rang out.

"I'm terribly sorry your Majesty. There is no excuse," big Link stood, holding his brother close to him as he faced the King, "The knife was on my belt, as it is everyday, so often that I usually forget it is there. I wear it in case of emergency, so that I am never unable to protect your Highnesses or myself. While we were playing, it became dislodged from my belt and frightened my brother."

"Into screaming bloody murder enough to scare the whole castle into thinking we'd been attacked?"

"Jerome…" Zelda warned, her voice low.

"Look at me, boy," the King demanded of the cowering Link.

"Please, your Highness, he's been through an awful lot—"

The King cut him off with an iced glare.

"Jerome," hushed Zelda, "Jerome, please."

Silence reigned in the room. The older Link swallowed hard.

"You may go," the King finished.

Both Links bowed and the older one replaced the dagger at his belt. As they slipped past the Queen, she returned the hat Prince had been wearing. Little Link furled it in his fist.

It was a long walk back to Link's quarters. They returned and little Link sat down on the couch stiffly, his eyes distant and cold. His brother went over to him, lifted his chin to face him in the rainy lowlight. He only had to look into those lonely eyes once. He strode over to the kitchen and started to make tea.

"It's not your fault," he called after a time.

The Link on the couch was silent and numb. His ears were pounding.

Big Link brought over two mugs of tea and curled his brother's cold fingers around one. He remained staring forward into space.

"It's okay, brother," Link tried. "Don't worry about it."

"Why do Kings always hate me?" the boy whispered.

Big Link put down his tea and gathered his brother to him. "They don't," he said into his hair, "They don't. Jerome was just upset because he thought his son was in danger. Zelda's father didn't know who you were. He was only trying to protect his daughter."

"I saved her," he whispered.

"I know. And without you all of Hyrule would be lost."

There was a pause. "How long were you missing after Zelda tried to send you back?" kid Link asked.

"Thirteen months," he whispered. "I spent a lot of time talking to the Deku tree, gathering my thoughts. A very long time. I wandered around and discussed with all the sages. And then I finally decided to go see Zelda."

Another pause. "I was in Termina then."

"Termina?"

"Yes. It's a country outside Hyrule. A Skull Kid had gotten a very powerful mask and it had corrupted him. He was trying to bring the moon down to earth and crush Clock Town."

"Wow," big Link murmured.

"Yeah. It was…it was awful. I watched the world end time after time, because I hadn't been able to stop it. And I sent myself back to the first day, using my ocarina, over and over and over again. And I watched people do the same things again and again, even though the world was ending. It was like being trapped."

Big Link rubbed little Link's shoulder.

"I had to use masks. I'd change into a Zora, a Goron, a Deku. And everytime I'd have to put a mask on…it was like being forced into another shape, and then trapped there. It felt so wrong. And I'd have to pose as people who'd died. And—" Link's voice caught, snagged on a sob, "and there was never enough time to do everything. Never enough time to save everyone. I tried, but there were still people I couldn't help."

Big Link took the cup of tea from his brother's shaking hands and set it on the table, then wrapped him in up his arms and felt him cry. And he promised himself a thousand things for this little boy.


	5. Nightmares and Regrets

I do not own the Legend of Zelda.

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

_Nightmares and Regrets_

Link was in the library. His younger brother was asleep back in his quarters. But Link had always had trouble sleeping when someone he knew needed help. He was busy shuffling through old books, dusty and smelling of old paper. He flipped across the fine print and squinted at spines. "The Triforce," he whispered to the silent catacomb of whispering pages, their secrets locked in ink. There was no one else there. Link had, after all, used a lock to pick his way in. Why things such as books needed to be locked up, he didn't know. But then...they probably all had very important things inside them, Link thought as he flipped the pages of the book be had brought down, a golden Triforce leafed on the binding. He wondered as he caressed the paper, thumbing across pages. How many things could be hidden away within the black and white mazes?

He landed on a page with pictures. Perfect, he thought. This one…this one looked like him! They had the same features, but then again Link never spent much time looking in mirrors, so he couldn't be too sure. But he felt connected to this person on the page in a strange, subconscious sort of way.

The book was old, it must have been about the legendary heroes of the past. Link's hand traced across pages as he stroked their ink...if only, if only he hadn't missed seven years, then maybe…but it didn't matter. The librarian would probably be down in a few hours, and Link could ask him for help. But then…Link traced his memory, skimming across conversations he'd had or heard months ago. But then again…the librarian was a late sleeper, and was often at the library late into the night. Unfortunately, it had taken later into the night than any night owl before little Link fell asleep.

Big Link made a pile on one of the tables of any books mentioning the Triforce that he could find. He wanted to know about the other heroes, the ones in the stories of old. And he knew the Triforce connected them. Midthought, the door to the library groaned, and yellow light sputtered across bare stones.

The Hero spun around, whipped out his sword from instinct. Framed in a nightgown, holding aloft a lantern, was Queen Zelda.

"Link?"

He hastily resheathed the sword on his back, and bowed to her, "Your Majesty, I beg your pardon."

Zelda was quiet. "What are you doing down here?"

"I was…looking for books." Link's voice trailed and Zelda noticed the pile on the table.

She shook her head and closed the heavy wooden doors behind her. "What could be so important that it couldn't wait until morning?" she asked as she padded up to him, her feet bare against the cold stones. He met her gaze and felt his stomach drop. "Let me guess. Your brother," she finished.

Link nodded, "Yes, your Majesty."

"Oh, please Link, I've known you since you were nine. You don't need to be so formal. I owe you my life and my kingdom," she looked at the pile of books, "Your brother….he's not actually your brother, is he?"

Again Link met her gaze in the darkness. He nodded again, swallowing hard. His palms were sweating. He had told himself he would come to her for help once he had the books anyway, that she would find out, but it didn't help.

"These are books about the heroes of legend," Zelda's voice trailed, "how would this help you learn about your brother? If I am right, he is you. Or at least, mostly you. So what could you learn about him from a book?"

Link nervously scratched the back of his head, cleared his throat to speak, "I…I was wondering…" Zelda nodded for him to continue. "If…if all the other heroes were…so alone."

Silence fell between them. "Oh Link," she sighed, "I'm terribly sorry. I—I thought that…oh, never mind," she picked up a book from the pile, determined to help. "Link.." she murmured, a new note catching in her voice, "this is a book about the Triforce of Wisdom, not of Courage."

"Oh."

Zelda gave him a funny look. "It says so, right here, on the spine…'Triforce of Wisdom.'"

"I…I guess I just saw the 'Triforce' part," Link shrugged and struggled to smile. Again Zelda raised an eyebrow at him and went back to his pile of books, and began sifting through them. Spine after spine…they all had the same thing in common. There was a picture of the Triforce on the binding. The titles varied, a few were even about Ganondorf or the Goddesses, and several were simply printed by someone who put that seal on all their books in tribute to the relic, whether the books were about plant varieties or horse shoeing.

"Link…" her voice took on a gently cautious note. He flinched. "Link…do you know how to read?"

The Hero squeezed open his eyes to look at her. He winced internally and shook his head.

Zelda dropped a book. "You don't?" she cried.

Link hated it. He shook his head again.

"Nobody…didn't somebody teach you?"

Link shook his head again. He tried to tell himself plenty of people couldn't read…but in Hyrule, most of them could. A previous Zelda had ensured it.

"What...what about the forest? Didn't somebody teach you there?"

"No, the Kokiri don't read. We don't have to. What is there to read? Where would we get the books? We never left the forest. We counted in tallies on bits of fallen bark or smooth stones but that was it, and plenty of them didn't even know what a book is. I tried to explain once…but books are made from paper, Zelda, and paper is made from trees. And when you live among so many trees that are more than trees…cutting them down to write on is obscene, cruel even."

Zelda's wide eyes begged more of an explanation, and Link continued, "I...I myself was shocked when I first found out books were from trees. But I used maps, and often those were paper instead of cloth or animal skin, so I got used to it."

"How did you read on your journey? Didn't you ever have to read...a sign or something?" Zelda asked.

"Navi," Link exhaled, "Navi knew how to read. She would read me anything I needed to know…I didn't have time to learn, after all."

Zelda's eyes ticked across Link, "You hid it very well," she added, "I never would have guessed."

"You did," Link shrugged, "though, it must have been pretty obvious…if you look inside of those books, you'll find most of them have pictures. "

Zelda turned to them briefly, shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Link."

"It's not your fault."

"Yes, but…you never said anything about it."

"I wasn't trying to be proud—"

"I didn't think you were, Link. I just, assumed…how stupid of me."

Link grinned, "You have the Triforce of Wisdom. I'm the one who can't read."

Zelda smiled back weakly, then set her lantern on the table and looked determinedly at him, "But anyway, how can I help you? I might as well be of use if I'm up this late."

Link smiled but it faltered, "Why are you up so late anyway?"

Zelda sighed. "I was thinking about your 'brother.' How did he get here? What's he doing?"

"Oh. Well…it's a…long story."

"Link, I can tell when you're avoiding the topic."

The Hero shrugged, "I just, I mean…it's really crazy, and, it…well, to be honest—" Zelda was staring him down. Hard. "It…I—I don't know."

She raised an eyebrow, "You don't?"

"No, I don't. He didn't…say very much."

"Because he seems to be a younger version of you. But you didn't kill him when he showed up, and he didn't kill you. And the world didn't explode, and neither of you ceased to exist."

"Well, it's well, I mean…that's probably because we're Triforce Bearers…there's probably a law about that, keeping it from happening. Because we probably still have a lot of things left to do."

Zelda shook her head. "I'm not buying it."

"Well…what if I lower the price?"

"…What?"

Link smiled, "You know, if I lower the price, will you buy it?"

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, sure. And there's enough Links around this castle to make a chain. You and Jerome…men have the strangest senses of humor," she mused aloud, eliciting a childish and lopsided grin from Link. She saw his face and couldn't help but return the smile. He was one of those people who could cheer up a rainy mood with a single grin. Even after all that he'd been through, Zelda thought of him as trustworthy and innocent. She figured the innocence had to do with his age displacement, the trust with the fact that…well, he was just that. Trustable.

Dim and distant, a high sound reached them. Link's long Hylian ears twitched and he tensed, yanking his sword free and blasting into the hall. Screaming, somebody was screaming. He charged after the sound, but he already knew where it was coming from. His room.

Flying across the courtyard and bursting through the door, he found kid Link paralyzed under the covers, eyes wide and mouth open, one long, unending scream peeling from his lips.

The Hero dropped his sword with a clatter and shook his brother. "Link! Link!" he cried, but the boy wasn't waking up. The Hero tore into the kitchen, snagged a bucket, rushed back, and sloshed cold dishwater across the terror-trapped child. The boy jolted awake.

"Hey Link, its okay, its okay," his older brother murmured, hovering over the boy's face, which was moonlight pale. "It's okay, you're alright now. It was just a dream."

"Th—the moon," little Link choked.

"Hey, hey," big Link lifted his brother and led him to the window, wrapping arms around the boy's middle, which was soaked from the dishwater deluge. "It's okay, see? The moon is up in the sky, right where it belongs."

Zelda stood in the doorway, her wide eyes watching the pair standing at the window. They stared up at the moon, their figures cast in silver. Kid Link was wearing one of big Link's shirts; it was far too big for him, but he was so wrapped up in his brother's arms you could barely tell. His forehead glistened with sweat, dishwater, and moonlight. The boy looked unreal, face drawn from a nightmare, hair plastered against him.

"Do you want some water?" whispered big Link. His brother nodded. "I'll get some blankets too, and you won't have to sleep alone," he added, and left the boy standing at the window.

Zelda found her voice as Link fetched a ceramic cup from a cupboard. "So that's why he's here," she choked.

Link nodded, pumping water. He thanked the skies that he'd left that bucket of dishwater out. "He...he's been through a lot. Things even I haven't. Things that happened after you sent him back."

As soon as he said it, Link regretted it. He'd made it sound like it was her fault. Her hand was at her mouth, poorly disguising how it trembled.

"No, Zelda," he whispered, putting down the cup, "don't feel guilty. It's not your fault. It's the fault of the person who went and tried to end the world. This time, it was a different land. Termina. It was a Skull Kid, I believe, corrupted by a mask."

But her eyes were already watering. "No, Zelda, please—" he tried, but she broke down.

"I—I thought—I thought that—it would fix things." He took her by the shoulder. Her face was in her hands, but at his touch she fell into him, burying her tears in his tunic. Unsure of what to do, he wrapped his arms around her. She still smelled the same. After all these years, one breath of her hair and he was back in the Hyrule castle gardens again, holding out the green stone the Deku tree had given him. They were both young and carefree, smiling easily.

Little Link stood in the doorway, a memory breathed into the present.

Zelda sobbed into big Link's tunic, curling herself into him. "I—I have nightmares too," she blubbered into his ear, making it tingle, "but….never that bad. And you…you saw even worse things than I ever did. But you're here alone, with nobody when you wake up scared…" little Link was still in the doorway, a world apart from where the Hero held the Queen, his eyes now closed.

"Not anymore," he whispered into her hair, burying his face in how it smelled, like sunlight.

There was the sound of boots on the threshold, and Link looked up to see King Jerome, arms crossed, frowning at them. He'd woken to his wife out of bed and in another man's arms.

Without hesitating Link detached himself from Zelda and then fell to his knee. "Oh gracious King I most humbly beg your pardon for this situation," he apologized hastily, "I never intended anything. It was all merely an accident. I would never dare touch your Queen nor seek her at such an hour. It is completely by chance that we were both awake—" but he was cut off as the King stepped in front of him.

The King was offered him a hand up, but Link kept his head down. "I do not doubt you," Jerome said, "I was glad to find her in such caring arms."

Was that…sarcasm? Link couldn't tell. He gulped hard. "Your most gracious Highness I most deeply implore your forgiveness—" the King grabbed him by the arm and hauled him up. Link flinched, expecting a blow. It didn't come.

"A maid told me that your brother was screaming again. Is this true?"

"Yes, your most royal Highness. I am most terribly sorry—"

"Judging by the door, I would guess you were somewhere else when you heard him." Link's eyes flicked to the cracked wood and broken hinges. He never could be bothered to use a doorknob. He nodded to the King, chancing to meet him in the eye. "And judging by the library doors swung open, that would be the library?" Link nodded again, the King glaring down at him. "This does not, however, explain how you found yourself in her arms."

"Jerome," Zelda whispered, "to be clear, I was the one to hug him. Do not blame him for this. We happened upon each other in the library. I saw the door was ajar, went in and found him. When his brother started screaming, I followed him here."

The King shot her a glance, but dropped his gaze again to Link's lowered face. "I must also tell you that as my wife was crying, it was not inappropriate for you to comfort her. You are close not only to her and the Royal Family but also this Kingdom. You've saved her life."

"Thank you, your most regal and royal Majesty of Hyrule."

"Link," the King clicked his tongue, releasing his grip on the Hero, "I must ask you to address me by my name. My first name. Jerome. As should you, young Link, brother of the Hero of Time," he added to kid Link, and adult Link wanted to squirm as his brother bowed. Kid Link wasn't the brother of the Hero of Time, he _was_ the Hero of Time. He deserved that title even more than himself, having also saved Termina.

The King swept an amber gaze across Link's homely quarters. "I thank you for what you have done for my wife and the Kingdom, but Zelda and I must take our leave," he gave a shallow bow, which both Links returned in full. He then took Zelda by the arm and led her out, leaving the timeline-displaced pair to stew in the silence and the flapping of wind through the broken door.

Big Link took the forgotten cup and handed it to his brother. The little boy drank and when he was finished older Link wrapped his arms around his still drenched brother. He had never been a man of words. But the boy understood anyway. Big Link's life since Zelda had failed to send him back was had been one of longing for that which was so close to him, and so far.

"Don't you ever let her go," he whispered to his little brother, who nodded even if he didn't understand.


	6. Home

I do not own the Legend of Zelda.

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><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

_Home_

Jerome held Zelda as she cried. He was there for her, he'd always been there for her. He'd helped her move on when she thought Link was gone from her life forever, and she loved Jerome. She really did.

"You still love Link, don't you?" her husband whispered to her in the dark.

She didn't know if it was the love of a girl for he who had saved her and her kingdom, love of a girl for a man of integrity, or the remnants of a past love, but she knew that in one way or another she did love Link. And here she was, in Jerome's arms.

"I won't leave you for him," she whispered back, her voice barred and catching on sobs. Jerome hugged her close and nuzzled her hair. Zelda's heart filled at his kind touch. He was the man who had kept the Queen of Hyrule on her feet as she lost her best friend and her nation's savior, as she grieved the country she had to rule in her dead father's stead, as the sheer loneliness of the world threatened to break her shoulders. He'd seen through the makeup and ruses, the smiles that didn't crinkle at the edges.

And in the same way, he knew why she was crying. His heart broke, because he couldn't give her the love her heart ached for, because he wasn't Link. And he'd gone and married her and now a wall stood between the princess and the Hero.

Her heart was broken for Link, the warrior who swallowed the traumas of battles long gone as they bubbled up throughout the day. She cried because she couldn't help him, because he couldn't help her. He was a boy in the skin of a man, confused and alone. She knew she needed Jerome, and Jerome knew that she needed Link. Link? He knew he'd never have Zelda, and he regretted that. But he didn't resent Jerome, because Jerome was the reason he still had a Queen to long for, the reason she wasn't entombed in a grave of what ifs.

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><p>In the Hero's quarters, little Link stared at the woodgrain of the table. His brother had told him that "what's mine is yours". He rubbed a knot in the wood and thought of his Zelda, back home. With all the fighting and time traveling he'd had, he'd lost track of when he'd grown up. He thought of the silly girl with swirling blonde hair and her ridiculous manner.<p>

With a burst of energy, his pushed his chair back and it shrieked against the stones. He strode to the door, swiping the green wool cloak from its peg. Big Link had left it there when he'd gone out into the rain, just in case his brother needed it.

With an angry stride kid Link marched out of the castle and down the road, through the town and out into the field.

At the peak of a hill, stiff against the threatening rain, the Hero of Time sat atop Epona. The reddish horse shifted footing and kicked up a clump of mud.

Kid Link squashed up the hill still soaked with yesterday's deluge.

The oldest didn't turn when he heard his brother's undisguised and squelching footprints behind him. The shortest stood behind Epona, and they watched the horizon and heard the river, far away, chatter in the distance.

"I always felt at home out here," big Link said suddenly, "and I don't know why."

"Probably the free money," little Link offered.

Big Link shook his head. "It—it's not—" but his throated fisted up and the words weren't coming.

"It's not really home," kid Link said. "Not it or Kakariko or Castle Town or even Lon Lon Ranch."

"I don't—I don't fit through the door to my house in Kokiri village anymore," the oldest struggled.

The younger squished his boot through the mud at the thought. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"Since I came here, I don't wish I felt at home in Kakariko or Lon Lon or Caste Town. Because….because when I'm with you, when we were playing with Prince or riding Epona…..there's no place else I'd want to be. It's the place I can spend all the time in the world at, where horrible things can happen there and yet they never haunt me once they're over. It's….it's home, Link. And you, you're my brother. We share blood and parents and that's all that matters. We're brothers, family."

Big Link reached out a hand to little Link, and the boy grabbed on and pulled himself atop the saddle. Epona shifted again beneath them, readying her stance, and the oldest cleared his throat and whispered, "Thanks."

Far out in the distance, lightning flickered against the navy horizon. The two brothers looked up and their pulses counted the silence until the quiet rumble finally reached them.

"Termina," little Link whispered, gaze locked to the land of the horizon.

"Come on," big Link said, turning Epona, "let's go home."


	7. Blind Determination

I do not own the Legend of Zelda.

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

_Blind Determination_

Around noon Ariadne, a maid, crept into Link's quarters, kicking open the door which had been kicked shut the night before by the oldest, its hinges broken so that it stuck at an angle.

The place was silent, chairs cast about and the table scooted off center. There were puddles of water on the floor, cups and a bucket knocked on their side.

Ariadne took her tray and knocked at the bedroom. The door creaked open and she found Master Link, the oldest, slumped against the wall, still fully suited in his tunic. His younger brother was curled up in his lap, cocooned by blankets. She knocked again. Master Link turned a sleepy head, eyes red rimmed and darkly shadowed.

"I brought you breakfast," she said, trying to sound cheery. The Hero looked absolutely miserable, blinking slowly at her, eyes swollen so that they were practically half-shut. He raised a finger to his lips and gingerly shifted his arms beneath the little boy that was his brother and lifted him unto the bed, where big Link settled the tousled blonde head against the pillow. He then motioned Ariadne out of the room and into the kitchen. "It was a rough night," he added for explanation, taking a mop from the closet upon seeing the floor.

"Oh no, let me take care of that, Master Link," Ariadne said, sweeping the mop from him and setting to work with the floor. "I take it neither of you slept well?" she noted while the Hero helped himself to some breakfast.

"Between the screaming fits he had several panic attacks," big Link cleared his throat, "I don't know…I don't know where he thought he was or what he was seeing but he tried to run outside in the middle of the night. I caught him first but he put up a fight and couldn't calm down. But eventually…eventually we both fell asleep again."

"Against the wall?"

"Yeah, well…it was a long night," Link eased himself into a chair, wincing a little. "I'd finally managed to calm him enough that he'd stay still, and so we didn't move from the wall after that. He just fell asleep where he was and I didn't dare move him," he finished, taking a bite out of an apple.

Link had been through worse, boss fights that dragged into the next day and left him not only exhausted but dancing with death. But there had always been a heart container at the end, something that filled him with energy, strengthened him and healed his wounds. It was a kind of magic, he guessed, maybe a reward from the goddesses themselves. But fighting his brother's demons gave no such reward. He took another bite out of his apple. In the end, Link's little brother, his alternate past, was a part of him. He didn't have a choice to do anything else but help him, but wrestle him away from screaming bloody murder in the hall at three in the morning. It would have been impossible for the Hero to stand aside. Even if he had a choice, even if he wasn't tied to this boy by fate and by compassion, he would likely have done the same. Or else he wouldn't have been Link.

The maid bustled about, making tea, righting furniture, mopping puddles. Link had known her since the fall of Ganon. She was a pleasant woman who'd shown him around, and gotten him used to the castle when he'd first arrived fresh from the ashes of Ganon's tower. She was a like an aunt to him, and she still stopped in every so often, claiming he "needed a woman in this house, and until you get yourself a wife I'll have to do."

Link contemplated this before taking a bite out of an egg. A wife? The idea seemed strange to him. Jerome had introduced him to many nice court ladies and refined duchesses but he'd never managed to be more than courteous to them. The only girl he felt truly comfortable around was Zelda, and all the others seemed strange creatures in comparison. Ariadne had told him of young, giggling maids who tittered constantly about him in the kitchens. It made him feel awkward and distant to imagine them talking like that. If only…if only he hadn't missed seven years….

Link heard the padding of bare feet. Setting down his apple he went to meet his sleepy-headed counterpart. "Hey, Link," he said, approaching the boy. Kid Link rubbed his eyes and blinked at the room. "Link? Where are you?" he called.

"What? I'm right here," the taller answered. But the boy continued to search the apartment, checking corners. "Link, are you hiding? Where are you?" he asked.

The oldest's breath was rising in his chest, worry hastening it. "Link, this isn't funny," he said.

"Link?" the youngest continued to call out for the man who stood right there.

"I'm right here," a confused older Hero stated, his voice painted with worry. In an impulse he went to his brother, crouching right in front of him.

Nothing. He waved his hand in front of the boy's face. Still nothing.

Link clapped loudly, but the youngest didn't even blink. He tried waving again. No response.

"He...he can't see me. It's—it's like I'm not there," whispered big Link, his voice hushed and stupefied.

The wide-eyed Ariadne gave no response, but her hand covered her mouth. "Is it...is it his problem?" she finally managed after a time, while the little Hero helped himself to a roll and sat down at the table, oblivious to everyone else in the room.

"I…I don't know," Link said, raising a set of glassy eyes towards her. Chills were running rampant up and down his spine. Like a ghost little Link graced the apartment, present but completely somewhere else at the same time.

The boy ate his breakfast and then resumed checking for his brother.

"Link?" he called again, slipping out of the broken door and heading towards the castle. "Link?" the little boy tried again, finding the courtyard deserted as well. There were no guards at the entrance. He broke into a jog, retracing his, Prince Link's, and big Link's steps from the day before. The kitchens were creepy, steam coiling from unattended pots and half chopped vegetables lying out. As his heart began to pound he broke into a sprint, bolting through the corridors. "Link? Zelda? Prince? Is anybody here? Anybody?" He banged open doors, seeing the empty quarters, blind to those within who worried frantically over his condition, jamming up the hallways as they tried to contact him, but he was truly and completely unreachable. They could not speak with him, they could not touch him. Through the crowds pushed his panicked brother, the older Link, having fetched the Queen in a flurry of action.

"Link, can you hear me?" she tried in vain, but the little boy ran off down the hall again, knocking on doors and yelling, raising the castle to its feet as they whispered at the Hero's strange brother, who had the same name and same face as the young Hero had, but who was now under some frightening curse, it seemed.

Little Link stopped running as they reached the courtyard. He walked calmly back to the quarters, trailed by Zelda and the anxious Hero.

The wind blew in coolly from a window, stirring an ethereal drape with its breath. Puddles watered the floor with the mop and there was food set on the table. But to young Link, the world was empty. Just when he'd found a friend, someone who'd stay by his side forever, he'd woken to find the world a void where he was the sole occupant, the only mind.

The little boy set his face and stared down the dresser in the bedroom. Zelda, Link, Ariadne, and Jerome watched with caught breath. Would he come back now? Would he go back to normal? Would he see them again? Zelda clenched big Link's hand—his face was drawn in baited hope, sheet white, and his fingernails knifed into Zelda's hand.

The little boy opened the dresser and began taking out clothes. He made a pile on the bed, rummaged through Link's things, and assembled a pack. He took the Kokiri sword and the Deku shield, and food from the tray Ariadne had brought, stowing it for later. He wore the tunic he'd arrived in, the tunic in which he had battled Majora and first met Zelda.

He shouldered his pack and tied his sword to his back with the shield. His steps echoed throughout the room as he approached the door, seeming but a ghost, a sheer dream turning to face they who he could not see.

"I will find you, Link," he called to the emptiness, "I'll find you." His eyes were misted with tears and he wiped his face with the back of his hand, sniffling and smearing the thick loneliness across his wrist. Then he turned and left, taking up a brisk stride to keep himself moving. To keep himself leaving his brother behind.

Zelda's breath tore into a sob and big Link tore after the younger, screaming his name and waving his arm, his desperate cries echoing up and up, but never landing on the only ears to whom they were said.

"No! Come back!" big Link cried, pulling at the boy, the corners of stone in the courtyard calling back. But he couldn't affect him. As his hand moved across the boy's shoulder, grasping for a shirt to pull, they found that little Link wasn't there. He could be seen and he could be heard, but he could not be touched. He wasn't there. He was trapped in a world in which he was completely alone.

Big Link sobbed and hopelessly tugged at his brother, hot tears surging across his cheeks. But the little boy walked on, through the doors and into the castle. He kept going, a bereaved, agonized brother wailing after him, screaming to the guard, but they too could do nothing for the boy.

And there was nothing they could say as the Hero of their kingdom bawled upon the stone floor. All at once everything tumbled inside him and then in a flash it was gone, empty, deflated. He was left silent and struggling against an unbearable weight that pinned him to the stones. Because his brother wasn't gone. His brother was there, a hologram haunting the halls and moving through the castle in search of the one who followed despairingly behind him.

And for the one behind him, this was the ultimate torture. The one he loved, the one he'd grown to care for on a level beyond…in a way more than how he'd ever been able to love anybody, had been stripped away from him by something, something nameless, something against which he was powerless.

Big Link wanted to tear himself apart, to shred every fiber of the fabric of his being until there was nothing of him. Helplessness flooded him, washing his knees out with the weight. The force keeled and crumpled him against the floor, sliding him down as if he had become a part of the waters of despair in which he drowned. He puddled and huddled over himself, sobs wracking breath into his body. He felt so disassociated in this waking nightmare that he might not have been breathing without them. The fight had washed out of him.

He thought of all the things he'd seen, all the puzzles he'd solved. He often thought that he could never solve them, feeling totally hopeless, only to then discover the answer lurking in some undiscovered method that had been staring him down the whole time. But the only thing staring him down now was the fact his little brother couldn't see him. The boy had called out for him and he had not been there, he had not reached him. And now little Link walked the lonely road out of the castle down to Castle Town, his only brother slumped in heartache upon the floor. And still he walked, his legs moving as if a robot, of their own accord. The little Hero didn't know where to start looking.

The market was empty, like the days when the sky was black. But not even the dancing couple remained. There were no ominous clouds from the mountain overhead, simply the stunning blue of an ordinary day. There were houses and shops, not a single person in any of them. Things were hung up to dry, food was cooking in pots, but there was no one there.

And so Link kept walking.

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><p>Fact: I wrote this chapter before Chapter Six, and added Chapter Six because it's important to the plot, so that's why some parts of this chapter may seem a tad disjointed (and why I posted so quickly). I also wrote this while listening to the saddest song I know, Lament by Balmorhea, which I highly recommend you look up. So what did you think? Review!<p>

Quick congruency note: yeah, the storm in the last chapter was meant to be on the horizon over Termina, moving away from Hyrule, so that's why there was no evidence of it the next day in Castle Town.


	8. Writing on the Ground

AN: I do not own Legend of Zelda. I made a bunch of last minute changes to this chapter, but I think they worked out beautifully. Except for typos. Please be sure to call me out on those and I shall fix them! The next update will hopefully be sooner than two weeks, but I've encountered some weird plot issues, and I'll either figure it out or the next chapter will have at least one small detail that doesn't line up with the game.

And a huge thanks to **Chupacabrabeliver18, Rainbowdashlovesinheritance, Foxpilot, LEva114, Nekii, and Xilent** for reviewing this story! And a special shout out to Xilent and Foxpilot for all their help with this story!

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

_Writing on the Ground_

Little Link stood in front of the forest temple, the huge entrance exaggerating his smallness. He remembered meeting Saria here, when she'd taught him how to talk to her through Navi, but, like the fairy, those days were gone. He wished he'd spent more time with his closest friend before losing his ability to talk to her. He sat down at the entrance, overcome with emptiness.

But Saria watched him. She watched him and tears slid down her cheeks.

Link took out his ocarina and played her song. He played it slowly, slipping from one note to the other on his own time, rending the melody devoid of cheer. The notes echoed back against each other, slurring into a strange harmony, filling up the meadow with their echoes. Not even a bird piped back at him, no Kokiri peered around a corner at him with the wide, innocent eyes of childhood, no fairy flapped her wings and kept herself aloft beside him with the smallest melodic twinkle. Link was alone, and he lost track of time, playing it away on the winds of his ocarina. Saria stood by, and in a land where he couldn't hear her, joined in harmony on her own ocarina, swearing by Kokiri oath that she would help her closest friend, no matter how estranged he had become.

At last she laid her refrain to rest, wiping her face as she turned towards Rauru's summons to a Council of the Seven Sages. After all this time, Link was still the boy without a fairy to her.

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><p>With an eye after Zelda's exit, Nabooru murmured, "Something must be done."<p>

"I'll talk to her," Saria said, also taking her leave, her voice meek and gentle as always, perfectly covering the lie. She left the chamber of Sages without a backward glance. They had discovered little in the meeting, except that as usual, Ganon probably had something to do with all this.

A ruby, a sapphire, and an emerald later, Saria was standing again in the Sacred Forest Meadow, this time shame pitting her stomach as she waited for her best friend to set aside the royal family's treasure. All she needed was a moment , and then she would have all that Zelda needed. She stood beside him, anxiously listening to the lamenting melody he cast over the meadow. It was now a variation on her song. Saria's heart broke slowly as she listened to it.

The notes slowed, sputtering to a harsh stop as Link succumbed to all the feelings of isolation and abandonment, dropping the ocarina and setting his face in his hands. Saria deftly pocketed the porcelain. Stealing was easy when you were small, and easier yet when the victim couldn't so much as see you.

She figured in the eternity she had as their fellow sage that Darunia and Ruto would forgive her for taking their Spiritual Stones. The Deku tree was used to such antics. But as soon as the smooth blue of the ocarina touched her pocket, she bolted, terrified for the look on Link's face when he found his one last comfort gone. She was already tormented by the very thought of what she'd done, she couldn't stand to be anywhere near when he noticed.

But on the way out of the meadow, she paused, and with frightened breath like a rabbit's flight, she headed back to where Link was sitting. With a stick in the mud she challenged the curse. Close to the Hero's feet, while his body fell to grief, she traced crude Hylian letters.

_Link,_

_You are not alone. Stay strong._

_Always,_

_Saria, Zelda, Darunia, Impa, Ruto, Nabooru, Rauru, Jerome, Prince, and Your Brother_

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><p>413/2012: Yeah, I cut a lot from this chapter, because the whole Sages scene was dysfunctional and Zelda's speech was just awkward, plus it kind of rendered the next chapter void. I laughed at how sad the parts I cut were, and that's why I cut them.


	9. The Temple of Time

AN: I do not own Legend of Zelda. This week was really nice, because I got way ahead of writing during break and now I get to reap the benefits of my labor with extra editing and less slaving and drafting. It's a massive relief to get this chapter out. It really is. I also turned in an essay today. Not procrastinating is so nice...oh wait, I still have to do that bio...dang it.

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><p><strong>Chapter Nine<strong>

_The Temple of Time_

Big Link sat in the garden, focusing on breathing. He couldn't shake the hollow screaming from his mind, the hollow sound of sorrow. And this time, the echoes that haunted him, so irredeemable and desperate, were his own self crying out to him, clamoring from throat to stone to ear to head again, refusing to leave.

Link stared numbly at the grass, the lawn bright green with rain. He had given himself over to numbness and remained, unmoving, in the garden. He had no idea how long he'd been there, and he scarcely remembered how he'd come to sit on the bench among the hedges. Passersby wondered if he even knew he was there.

The sound of boots came from the pathway behind him, and King Jerome sat beside Link on the bench.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" Jerome tried for conversation.

Link swallowed in response, moving the most he had in the last hour.

"I'm sorry," he croaked.

"It's fine," Jerome consoled, and Link closed his eyes, trying to squeeze shut the memory, his erratic screaming and Jerome's attempts to calm the manic Hero, who was lapsing in front of half the castle. But Link had been beyond reason, because the world had been beyond reason. His brother couldn't see him and the elder Hero could do nothing about it. "There's nothing you could've done," Jerome voiced, making Link cringe.

"I know," the Hero whispered so quietly Jerome almost didn't hear it, "I know that." _Don't remind me_, he wanted to scream.

"You know Link, if there's ever anything you need—"

"I'll be fine," he cut off the King, "I'll be okay. I just need…time." Time. The answer and the cause of all his problems at once. Why did it always come down to time?

Link jerked his head up. Time, that was it! If this was a fluke of little Link's time traveling, he'd find the answers at the Temple of Time. In a flurry of hope Link stood and left, attempting to contain his stride to a walk, and failing.

"Link, where are you going!" Jerome called after the receding Hylian.

"To the Temple of Time!" he called back, breaking into a jog, relishing in a sense of purpose as his stride lengthened and he tore across the stones, urgency, desperation, and hope fueling his steps. He left his doubts in the slapping of soles against pavement.

"Zelda!"

The Queen jumped. "Saria, you startled me!" she sighed, regaining her breath as the Kokiri went to stand next to the Hylian, who she had run into near the entrance to Kokiri forest. Zelda hesitatingly leaned towards her fellow sage. "Do you know where I would find the emerald?" she asked tenuously.

Without a word Saria divulged her treasures upon the Queen, who looked at her with wide eyes. "What—why did you give me these?"

"You were looking for them. I'm helping you."

"But you—how did you know?"

"We need to know the true cause of the curse to know how to break it. And the only way to do that is to ask him. And for that, you need these."

Zelda considered the stones carefully. "Thank you," she whispered, though she knew the feeling climbing up her throat was not gratitude, but dread.

"Now we need the Hero of Time," Saria suggested gently.

"Huh? Ah, yes," Zelda said, shaking her head of the reverie and turning back towards her horse, climbing up and offering Saria a hand once seated in the saddle. Together they rode back towards Castle Town, silent with anticipation.

In the streets of the town they ran into Link, his head lowered as he made for the Temple. With a kick from Saria, Zelda remembered to call his name.

"Link!"

"Yes, your Majesty?" the Hero of Time greeted after coming to stand beside the horse.

"We—we require you assistance, Link, in the Temple of Time."

"Why, of course, your Majesty. I shall escort you there."

Link walked beside the horse as it stepped gracefully across the stones. His eyes met Saria's several times. She seemed uncertain, though Link couldn't tell what about.

They quickly reached the Temple of Time, where the guards were overcome by the presence of their Queen. She acknowledged them politely but hurried inside with Link and Saria without divulging their extreme honor.

"Do we know of a way to help Link?" the Hero of Time asked once they had entered.

"Not yet," Saria said gently, "but we are close. We just have to be sure we know what's going on."

Zelda was busily setting the Spiritual Stones in their proper places, and taking out the Ocarina Saria had stolen from Termina's hero. She fumbled playing the Song of Time, but eventuallygathered her composure enough to complete the tune.

"Why are we—how did you get Link's ocarina?" the Hero of Time asked. In response Saria gripped his arm. As the chamber of the Master Sword opened, she led him up the steps and towards where the blade lay in a single streak of light.

"Link," Zelda's voice was watery, though her words were dry. "Link, I need you to take the Master Sword."

"What? Zelda, are you crazy? That'll open the Evil Realm!"

"I—I know Link. I need to talk to Ganondorf. Saria and I can both keep the seal intact long enough for me to enter and speak with him."

"No, Zelda, you can't. He's too powerful. What if he breaks loose?"

"Link, he won't, I promise."

"You can't promise that."

"I can, Link."

"I'm not letting him take you. I—I won't do it!"

"Link, not doing this will guarantee that I am taken!" Zelda screamed at him. He was stunned into shock as the disheveled Queen lowered her voice. "We have to do this, for your brother. And if we don't he'll be stuck in this timeline forever. And then the other timeline will have no Hero, and when the Prince of Thieves rises to power, nobody will defeat him. And your brother? Your brother will never know love again. He will be destroyed, as will you. And what heroes are left after that? There will be none. I dream and I see water, water on all sides. I've tried telling myself that it's only Nayru, whose element is water and whose wisdom I carry, but that night I couldn't sleep, that night I went to the library, was when the dreams changed. The water rose and covered everything. But from the water came a figure in green bearing the three Spiritual Stones. We have to do this, Link. It's the only way."

Before he could psych himself out of it, Link wrapped both his fists around the Master Sword. He gave Zelda one last look, and Saria braced herself. Zelda's gut was cleaved hollow with fear, but she had to do this, for Link.

The Master Sword slid from the stone, and Zelda felt herself jerked away and bathed in darkness, thick and suffocating black swirling where there had once been air.

The Evil Realm closed in about her. She clenched her jaw and fists with the weight of keeping the seal intact. Before her, in the darkness, two yellow eyes loomed evilly, grinning. "So you've come back to me, my love?" That voice, thick around her and shrieking of a thousand nights when it had chased sleep away, rang aloud right in front of her. She stared it down, wrenching her voice free.

"What did you do to Link?" she demanded, her azure eyes lit with rage.

Ganondorf chuckled, "At long last, have my efforts come to fruition? What happened? Did you try to marry the boy, and on your wedding night, he vanished?"

"Tell me! What did you do?" Zelda screamed, her voice muffled with the weight of the darkness. Claustrophobia had her nerves on high alert, her heart fumbling rapidly for a way out.

Ganon laughed evilly. "Only my very best, my dear."

"Bastard! Did you curse him?"

"Not only him, love. Do you not remember my last words to you, are you so cold? I cursed not only him, but you and the sages as well. Or have you been so ignorant?"

"What did you do?"

Another lunatic laugh. "Love, that fickle thing? Only the weak need it to live. So I simply made your hero stronger. And there's nothing you or the sages can do about it. Why, does that make you sad, Princess?"

"You're an idiot. There is a way to break the curse."

"You might kill Link, that would do it. How can Courage be brave if he has nothing to stand for? I figured, if I strip him of everything he loves, make it impossible for him to belong, he'll never stand again. And that makes my part in this whole thing so much easier, don't you think? It was quite genius actually, I have to admit."

Zelda trembled. "No, Ganon, you have to admit that you are wrong."

"Wrong? Would you like to say that to me face as I wrench the Triforce from your being?" She winced as his voice reached a sharper pitch, caving in around her mind.

"You're nothing but empty threats, Ganon."

"Empty threats? Ha! Then explain how my curse of two years ago has brought you to me," he grinned. Zelda took a step back, gathering herself to leave the Evil Realm.

"Zelda, I gave you an order," Ganon's voice grew dangerous. Zelda did not respond. "I told you to explain how you think I'm weak and yet you fear me," he growled, face lethal and tone volatile. "Zelda…." Ganon drew himself up.

Just as Zelda was making for the world of Light, the Evil King charged. Fists were wrapping around her neck, her ears entangled with crazed laughter, and something was peeling sanity from her grasp, something was wringing her body of all hope. Her lungs were flattened to paper and breathing was a dream that no nightmare could imagine. Fire seeped across her skin and seared her nerves to a pitch of pain they could not hold. When at last she thought she was lost, a flash of light yanked her free and she found herself enveloped in a blanket of brightness.

"Shh—!" the Hero of Time spun from where he had stood at the pedestal to find both Saria and Zelda crumpled on the floor.

"Help! Help, anybody!" he cried towards the entrance, checking Zelda for a pulse. It wavered delicately in her throat. Next he gingerly lifted Saria. She was so tiny, Link feared he might break her. Her fairy lingered by her, twinkling softly. The Kokiri stirred quietly in his arms. "Saria! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," the fairy girl dismissed, sitting up. "Did I black out?"

"You and Zelda both. Saria, what's going on?"

Saria looked at him sadly. "Now's not the time, Link. Things can be explained later. But right now, we need all the sages present."

"Don't hurt yourself, Saria. You only just woke up."

"I'm fine, Link. It's Zelda I'm worried about," she dismissed, closing her eyes and summoning her fellows.

Link turned away from the girl and her fairy and eyed the porcelain despondency of Zelda's face, her hair slack and loosely framing it. He gingerly shifted her unto her side. "Do you know what happened to her?" he asked Saria as the Kokiri reopened her eyes.

"Not exactly. But she was dealing with Ganondorf."

A hot knife seemed to have cut across Link's gut, he thought, imagining what the Demon King could have done to Zelda. Even as Saria watched him, he vowed to wreak havoc on the man that had done this to her. They both looked upaat the sound of footsteps in the entrance.

"Saria! Link? Zelda! What's going on?" a panicked Ruto ran to the scene. "Link! What did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear!"

"Then why, in the name of all that is good, is Zelda unconscious!"

"She was attacked by Ganondorf!"

"Yeah, likely story." Ruto kneeled next to the Queen.

"I swear! She entered the Evil Realm to talk to him, and when she left with the help of Saria she was unconscious!"

"It's all right Link, you can stop being so defensive. She's coming to."

Link turned back to Zelda's side and the Zora, lifting her hands from the Queen's forehead, sat back on her heels. The rest of the sages were quickly arriving, accompanied by King Jerome, all out of breath and flustered.

"Zelda! Zelda, are you all right?" Link carefully held the Queen's head.

The weight above Zelda had changed to air. It was so cool against her damp skin, so delightfully feathered and soft, her eyes wheeled back at the grey ceiling and closed. There was strength against the back of her head, so much that she though she could die of relief alone.

"Are you okay? Zelda, please, say something."

A human voice, velveteen and not tampered with by greed, Zelda reached out, and for a moment brushed it, "….Link?"

"Thank heavens!" The Hero bent over her, brushed hair from her face. Her lashes fluttered and found the ethereal blue of his. Link's heart dropped at the sight of her fuzzy eyes struggling to make sense of the new found light. He fumbled with her hand, playing warmth back into it, and laying it back at her side.

"Don't, don't ever do that again…" he whispered, gently helping her up.

"So much for the Triforce of Wisdom," Ruto said, snapping Zelda from what had felt like a dream.

"What—Ruto? What are you—" her question was cut short as she spotted the Six Sages and Jerome gathered around the inner chamber in the Temple of Time.

"What exactly did you hope to accomplish by almost breaking Ganondorf's seal?" Impa practically shouted, her tone throwing Zelda back to her childhood and all the times her Sheikah nursemaid had scolded her.

"Th-the curse," Zelda stuttered, wiping her suddenly streaming eyes, "It's real. He….he said so."

At the fearful glance from Zelda as she spoke, Link's face washed blank with shock. The Queen's face was streaked with shiny tears and sorrow as she turned away from him, towards her King.

"What…what curse?" Link said tentatively, his voice still a whisper. Every face in the chamber turned towards him, all full of a sympathy, and dread began to ball up in his chest.

"What, what's going on?" he demanded, his voice going shrill. This time it was Zelda who reached out to him, extending a comforting hand. His edged nerves jerked his arm away. Zelda faltered.

"Link, calm down," Saria began, her voice gentle. ""When we sealed Ganondorf away, he cursed you."

"He cursed you so that you'd never find a home, a loved one, or a place to belong," Zelda said quietly, "and he cursed us Sages and I so that we wouldn't be able to help you."

"That's why what happened to little Link, happened," Saria continued.

"And that's why my attempts to send you back failed," Zelda barely managed to finish.

Link's mind reeled, his temper flashed. A thousand injustices cried out in his throat. "He cast a curse…." the Hero whispered, the Hero of Hyrule and the Bearer of Courage. The Bearer of Power, Ganondorf, Demon King, had…Link didn't even have words for his crime, only rage.

"Damn him!" In a surge of movement Link broke his eerie stillness and grabbed the blade with the power to Banish Evil, diving into Ganon's prison.

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><p>"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost."<p>

-Arthur Ashe


	10. Link, Hero of Time

****Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda.

AN: I have changed the rating of this fic to T, for darkness and language. It was changed last chapter but I don't think I said anything, so yeah.

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten<strong>

_Link, Hero of Time_

The world swam with blackness, but Link charged the first thing he saw amid the chaos. A pair of gleaming yellow eyes.

"Ah, my amusing little Hero has come to let me toy with him again?" Ganondorf snickered.

"I have come to avenge my brother!" Link yelled.

"Oh, have you? But, my little hero, there's something keeping you apart. Just a little bit of my favorite handiwork, you know."

And in front of Link, between him and Ganon, a massive monster reared from the abyss, crazed crimson eyes glaring down at the tiny hero. Fingers of black and gleaming silver ensnared Link in a grip of metal. It roared visciously, and then chuckled to a deep laugh, grinning as it growled in a demonic voice, "The Hero must be alone."

It dove and prepared to swallow Link whole. With a yell the Hero imbedded the Master Sword into the roof of its mouth. The monster shrieked, and behind him Ganon cursed under his breath and stretched out his hands, pushing the monster forward with the his Power, fueling the beast's blood, which turned to acid as it bled down the sword and unto Link, who yelped, twisting the blade while his skin curdled and burned. But what chance did the Master Sword have? It was a toothpick against rows of teeth.

But the blade of Evil's Bane would not submit. It glared whitehot and streaks of white lit up the creature's mouth, branching out like veins in a block of marble. They spread along the beast, arching up from its mouth and cracking across obsidian scales until the beast throbbed with light. Ganon himself wailed, puppetmaster of the beast victim to the agony of his creation. But the Demon Lord would not yield. Feeling the imminent collapse of his grandeur tool carved from the darkness of his exile, Ganon thrust its blinding mass on top of the Hero, weight crushing Link's human body.

The monster crumbled to white embers, and Link felt himself standing uncertainly amid the black that was left. Midnight overhead, coal chaos below, Link staggered, finding the Master Sword gone. In the realm of Hyrule above, it rang against stone, strident and heart wrenching as dread drove fearful heartbeats into throats.

Link wheeled as an iron fist clasped upon his marked hand. Ganon sneered above him, and the Hylian could feel the vibration of Gerudo Power seeking to wrench Courage from the Hero.

Link's Triforce hand began to sear with flame as the inked corruption of Ganon sneered and loomed above him. The Evil King felt Courage's repulsion and grinned demonically. "Oh, your element can't stand that, can it? Evil? Well isn't that silly, for Courage to fear Power? We must try and give old Farore a taste."

Ganon extended his other hand and Link felt every eerie or detestable sensation he'd ever felt in his life crawling all over his skin, absorbing into his pores, and hacking, as if with tiny fingernails, at his mind. He threw his head back and screamed, his body fighting for a way out, skin leaping free of itself. Without warning, a harsher note hit his cry and it cut to a snarl. His eyes beamed blue but instinct overcame him and he sunk his teeth into Ganon's wrist.

Ganondorf flung him back, appalled, taking a moment to glance at the blood trickling from tooth holes on his Triforce mark. And the sacred beast was hurled away and struck the floor, suddenly canine bones rattling with the impact. But the wolf rolled to his feet easily, titling his head back and howling to the black oblivion, sensing the reek of evil and bounding after a shocked Ganon, taking the opportunity to tackle the Demon Lord and latch lupine fangs into Gerudo blood. Ganon yelped and struck the wolf with mighty fist, knocking Link brutally towards the ground. But the dog was determined, unstoppable, and endlessly nimble on four paws, dashing around the base of the man and snaring his robes in jagged teeth. "Enough!" boomed Ganon, stomping on the wolf with a heavy boot. Link yelped at the impact against his ribs, and Ganon held him there as he enshrouded the Hero with his power. Cold clamps set into Link's bones and he felt his joints forced into different direction, his bones made malleable and coerced into molding. Fur melted from skin as his neck was harshly straightened out, made to face the Demon King, who wrenched one of Link's newly shifted arms at a painful angle, gripping his other and preventing the Hero's escape.

"Hylians truly are weak," the man, if one could call him a man, crooned, inches from Link's face, "are you such a coward, boy, that you only dare face me as a wolf?"

"Are you so weak that you must fear me?" Link retorted, searching for the Light World with his thoughts, at last grazing it, and feeling the presence of the Sages above. Ganon's eyes narrowed at his insult but bulged with rage when he too felt the reach of the Sages extending to their Hero.

"No! You will not escape me what is rightly mine!" Ganon screamed, and Link felt power tear at his very being. It tunneled into his chest and clamped around his heart, seeking to squeeze the very courage out of it. He howled in agony, and Ganon grinned joyously, reveling in all of it. "To have the Triforce is to have power, is it not, boy? And so I, as the bearer of Power, must own the mark on your wrist, for to truly have power is to hold all three. And if the Goddesses have so graced me with the Power on my hand, they must want me to hold the power of all three, don't you think?"

Something had reached inside Link's bones and was peeling each apart into a hundred different pieces. "Don't you think the Goddesses would honor you, boy, if you gave me the piece of the Triforce they want me to have?"

Link answered with a blow aimed at the Demon Lord's face. But Ganon stopped it before it even made contact, proceeding to wrench the Hero's wrist in the wrong direction. "You have no other choice. Give it up, boy." Ganon relished the words.

"Never," came Link's steady reply, his voice even throughout the torture, Courage glaring on his hand, pulsing with the heart of the Hero.

Ganon growled in impatience and reached into Link's mind, unearthing all the horrors the boy had ever seen, recoloring every trauma and playing them all back at once, fists clamped securely against Link's ability to do anything else, watching him wash in the regrets and terrors of his life.

The shriek of a re-dead, the sensation of being thrown against a wall as Morpha softened him up for digestion, and the otherworldy glare of Dark Link's eyes as he stared him down, coolly matching him strike for strike. Link's mind rang with the ear-racking sound of bones assembling into a Stalphos. His legs were chewed by an illusionary blade trap, sharp pain cracking across angry red flesh as Volvagia reared in front of him, trapping him in a body of searing nerves while Koume and Kotake cackled at his predicament, the cacophony of their echoing delight like metal walls closing in, crushing his ribcage like a pinecone underfoot and his hope like a candle drowning in wax.

Malon wailed and sobbed unabashedly as Link promised her that Ingo would never touch her again. The Deku tree, his lifelong friend and protector, the guardian and lifeblood of the Kokiri, died before his eyes. He had failed to save the old tree that was practically his father. Zelda was carried away atop a snowy horse, out of his reach and away into the big dangerous world. Ganon reared to squash him beneath a steed the color of nightmares. And he met Prince for the first time, seeing the shock on Zelda's face when he entered the throne room, the eyes glittered with jewel-like tears and the echo of her feet as she stormed out. The haunted Well surrounded him, filled with the ringing drips of water and the splatters of ominous stains. The spine chilling sound of Skulltulas scratching and scurrying all around him barricaded any ability Link had to think. His reflexes called for him to lash out, his instincts calculated each threat and each needed maneuver, but every sensation was compounded and his legs could not move.

A thousands defenses flared in his frenzied mind, all clashing and sparking for attention. Link felt panic climbing up his chest as he writhed against his mind, but soon the feed from nerve to brain was too great, there was nothing else. It drowned out even his panic.

With a snigger Ganon soaked in the pleasure of Link's destruction, casting the Hero's now limp form aside, kicking the green clad body. The monster of the curse reared anew, freshly resurrected, salivating as it engulfed what had once been the Hero of Time.

* * *

><p>"LINK!"<p>

Zelda rushed to the fallen man, Jerome quickly following her.

"Quick, somebody, help!" Zelda called, and Nabooru shouted brusquely to the guards outside the gate. "Hey, we need help in here!"

"We have to take him to the castle," Zelda urged as the soldiers ran up the steps. Without further ado they hefted his body and carried it out of the Temple. He was mumbling, muttering frantically, his face twitching.

"Can't you heal him, Zelda?" asked Ruto hurriedly, remembering the Queen's Wisdom.

"No," Zelda's voice cracked, "I-I tried, but whatever happened to him, it's too strong."

"He'll be all right though, won't he?" Nabooru was desperate.

Zelda could only shake her head and gasp, "I don't know," before the sobs came all at once and she buried herself in Jerome's arms. Sensing something, Impa rushed from the Temple, quickly trailed by Saria. There were panicked voices outside. Chaos was heard from strains bumping the silence of the Temple.

"Put me down!" he was shouting, his voice rough with anger. The two guards hastily set the man down, shocked. Without warning he lashed out at them, punching and kicking them backwards where they reeled in shock and then unconsciousness as his blows hit home.

"Link!" Impa shouted, moving to block the man. He barreled towards her and stuck his fist in her gut, shoving her winded body off as he sprinted towards the rest of the sages. Saria hastily hid around a corner and blinked back terror. No, no, this could _not_ be happening. Link would never—he hadn't—

"Zelda," he seethed, his eyes, blue but alit with a sickening passion, ticking creepily across the courtyard, brushing past Saria's hiding spot where her fairy huddled behind her.

He jerked a knife from his belt and charged into the Temple, a battlecry crossing his lips as he aimed openly for the Queen. With a victorious scream he lunged at her, easily shoving past the shocked Sages and King, brains frozen and malfunctioning. By the extremity of things, the world should have stopped. And they reacted as if it had.

Zelda shrieked and rolled from the attack, but Link continued to chase her, laughing psychotically. "Link, no!" the Queen screamed as he raised his dagger.

"Ganon always gets what he wants," the maniac cackled, wheeling around toward Darunia, who had attempted to sneak up behind him, fist raised. "What? Does Mr. Rock Man think he can outmatch Power? What strength do you wield, over he who can corrupt Courage?" the unhinged Hylian spat, hand rewrapping around the dagger as he prepared to stab Darunia.

"No, Link, calm down, you don't know what you're doing—!" Darunia attempted to reason with the madman, but the lunatic only raised his blade higher. "Where are you supposed to stab a Goron?" he muttered, "Well I guess I'll just have to find out!"

With a dull thud Jerome struck the deranged man over the head with the Zora Sapphire. His cerulean eyes rolled back as the insane Hero tumbled to the floor, leaving the temple wreathed in shocked silence.

And Saria, Sage of Forest, bolted out of Castle Town as fast as her Kokiri legs would take her. The Ocarina of Time was clenched in her hand, a confused fairy bobbing behind her, dancing in his attempt to keep up.

* * *

><p>AN: Sooooooooooo...well, I'm gonna be roughly a week late on my next update...so the next installment is three weeks out instead of two...I apologize. But even more than that I apologize that a delay had to happen after <em>this<em> chapter. As I have said before, I have an ending and a way to get Link and Link from _here_ (shudders) to there! Please, don't give up, this story will have a happy ending. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye.


	11. A Scavenger Hunt with the Dead

AN: I do not own Legend of Zelda. And if, after the thrid linebreak (the one before the title doesn't count) when little Link has gone down the stairs, you listen to Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell from Requiem of a Dream, it becomes so ridiculously epic. Mostly just because that's an epic song. I don't own that song, for the record, it just makes dark action scenes *cough* last chapter *cough* way more intense. (This chapter isn't as intense, btw.)

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><p><strong>Chapter Eleven<strong>

_A Scavenger Hunt with the Dead_

In the Sacred Forest Meadow, little Link stared at what Saria had written, tears in his eyes. After he had lost Navi, Malon had taught him how to read, but the Hero couldn't focus and had left after the basics. But all the same, he had managed to painfully untangle the script before him. _You are not alone_. He fingered his sleeve at the thought. It was clear someone had been with him—his Ocarina had disappeared. But...who? And what did they need it for? There was no way to determine if the author had signed their name, and if they had, which person among the list they were.

All of a sudden, from across the meadow, Link heard music. Low and lonely, the Song of Time rang out across the meadow.

Well, if that wasn't the tiniest bit creepy. _First I'm getting notes from people I can't see and then I'm hearing music,_ Link thought. Maybe it was time to get out of this meadow. And the person playing the music had a place they wanted him to go.

Link rose and trusted blindly, getting up from his place at the entrance to the Forest Temple. He began to run, whizzing past the source of the music and hearing it cut off. He didn't hear Saria's footsteps or her shouting as she ran after him, as she thanked the skies for the magic of the Ocarina, able to cross time, space, dimension, and illusion. She just prayed little Link didn't have a psychotic break as well.

The Kokiri boy raced out of the woods and across the field, where Saria did him the favor of calling Epona and chucking the treasure of the Royal family unto the grass in front of him, cheering loudly when he picked it up.

As the Hero of Termina raced out towards Castle Town atop his older brother's—or was it his?—horse, Saria let her hopes float skyward, fingers laced in desperation. _Please, please let this work, _she pleaded.

Hiding behind the corner, she had seen the gleam in the older Link's eyes, the way his face was contorted by emotions no wielder of the Master Sword would hold, twisted in ways Link never would have shaped it. And though his eyes were still blue, the way they caught the light in their malice was identical to a glance she had only ever seen in the yellow gaze of a certain Gerudo King.

To be corrupted by the curse was to become a part of it, to no longer need to be separated by it. Because the aim of the curse wasn't meant to separate little Link from the curse, and since big Link had become the embodiment of the curse…..rising from her place, Saria called out to Zelda in thought.

"_I sent little Link to the Temple of Time. Find him, and send him to what used to be his brother."_

* * *

><p>Zelda was yanked from the dredges of her lament by the prodding of a fellow Sage. "I sent little Link to the Temple of Time," she heard Saria say clearly in her mind's ear. She detached her gaze from the disbelief of the fallen Hero, and rose to her feet tenuously.<p>

"Zelda, are you all right?" Jerome asked, gripping her arm, his eyes glazed with fright. The Queen managed to nod.

"We have to take him to the dungeons," she said firmly, her voice covering the tremors.

With a soft look her husband squeezed her arm. He turned to call the guards, but they were out cold.

Zelda shivered.

* * *

><p>In a cell in the bowels of Hyrule Castle, the former Hero was slumped in unconsciousness, body slack and indifferent.<p>

And back at the Temple of Time, Ruto waited for the little Hero with a note she had placed on the Pedestal of Time. Here she was, a fully fledged Zora, playing scavenger hunt with a boy she'd once proposed to.

When the twelve year old slowly climbed up the steps, he checked both sides of the room and saw right through Ruto, swallowing as he approached the note. The thought of invisible monsters lurking in what should have been plain sight disturbed the boy. He was clearly under some curse, and there was clearly someone leaving him clues. Praying they weren't clues to his downfall, he peered over the paper left by the Master Sword.

_Link,_

_Your brother has been taken ill. He is being held in the dungeons._

_-Zelda_

Link's face contorted at the words. Taken ill? In the dungeon? Link may not have known much about castle affairs, he admitted, but he knew that a dungeon was no place to get well. He scowled at the room, his face folded into anger that tears were quickly threatening to replace.

"I don't care who you are," he shouted into the empty chamber, "but if you hurt my brother, you will die!" And with his parting insult to the Zora Princess he ran out of the Temple, wiping the tears that smudged his vision as heclambering atop Epona, streaking for the castle gates.

The people of Castle Town yelped as they hurried out of the path of the galloping horse, frightened by the all to familiar lad in green atop it. He was a shocking imprint of the past, breathing and bleeding and searching for his brother before their eyes. But they were not before his eyes. The timeline displaced twelve year old rode boldly directly up to the gates, where he slid off Epona, red-faced from riding. The castle door was open for him, a haunting and unmoving entity that knew he would enter.

Out of habit, Link's hand rose to his short Kokiri blade as he stepped into the entrance hall, the walls blanketed with this and that banner of allegiance. His boots were sharp against the alabaster, his head held high and nose running as he made his way through the labyrinth of grand stone.

There was just one problem. Link didn't actually know where the dungeons were.

Anger mounting, Link wheeled around in the hall. The castle was huge, sprawling stone arches reaching high above him and corridors stretching on forever, curling into into each other and morphing into side doorways and winding staircases that spiraled up, up, away. But Link did not know the way down.

Something caught his eye, and he turned. Tacked up quickly, he spotted a piece of paper he could've sworn wasn't there before. "_This way_," it read, with an arrow pointing down an unfamiliar hall.

Link swallowed hard and jogged in the direction the sign indicated. And sure enough, more papers appeared to guide him, sometimes simply arrows and sometimes reading "_Dungeon_." Link rolled his shoulders, hoping to rid himself of how incredibly absurd and creepy this whole thing was. Invisible people were _giving him directions_. It was like a scavenger hunt with the dead.

Link brushed the thought of who might've died while he wasn't able to see them out of his mind as he zoomed around corners at the biddings of crude signs.

Seven turns later, because Link didn't trust the unseen to guide him out of here, Link came across a last sign, reading simply "_Good luck_," and pointing down a dark stairwell lined with a few lit torches. _Great_, he thought, shifting his sword strap. Whatever had happened to his brother was waiting for him down there. He subconsciously wished for Navi to light the way, a beaming sun of companionship to chase away the gloom was barely daunted by the torches lining the walls. He had a mysterious urge to hold his breath as he took the first step.

_This is for Link_, he told himself. _Your brother_. And he drew his sword.

The little hero made his way down the steps, blade aloft, wary of the shadows his eyes could not see past.

* * *

><p>"Hello? Who goes there?" called the wide-eyed maniac to the darkness. He flailed against his bonds, making a racket in the dark. What looked like the silhouette of a boy of twelve had crossed the torches near him. He was chained at his feet and hands, angrily shaking the cuffs and listening to them rattle, addicted to the sound of dischord.<p>

"Link?" called the boy, taking a torch from the wall as he approached the struggling prisoner.

Light fell on the demented man. His bright blues eyes wheeled across little Link's hesitant form. His jaw twitched in agitation. The idea of being chained enflamed a thousand hatreds within him.

Young Link stood in shock. When he had read Zelda's note saying that his brother was "ill", he never thought mentally ill.

"Are you just going to stand there? Unbind me!" screeched the stranger on the floor.

"You…you're…" little Link stood in shock. This was his brother. But it wasn't. The shackled maniac in the dungeon was and wasn't, all at once, the Hero of Time. A correction needled the back of little Link's mind, barely whispering, "_You_ are the Hero of Time."

"I told you once," the older's voice was short. "Now free me!"

Again little Link faltered, his eyes skimming the walls for some sort of answer. He found none. Pausing, he took a step back. Surely, the anonymous note leavers had left something to explain this?

The lunatic spat against the prison stones. "What is wrong with you? Why won't you free me?"

Link continued to turn.

"Don't you dare leave!" the shackled man shrieked, his voice seething with malice. "You're no hero to leave your own blood to rot in a cell!"

Link turned back. _He has a point_, the young hero mused. _But…he's insane_, he reminded himself firmly. _Out of his mind._

The deranged man strained his bindings and raged at the ceiling, filling the dungeon with dense cacophony. "Why won't you FREE ME!" he screamed, eyes ticking madly from one surface to the next.

Link's knuckles went white around the torch handle.

"Did I not do enough for you, my sweet?" the stranger taunted from the ground, pupils dilated and voice unstable, dragging his chains slowly against the dungeons floor. "I fed you, I clothed you, I introduced you to my Zelda, my, my, I even gave you my own bed to sleep in and cooked you breakfast you and you just turn your little back on me like the ungrateful monster you are." The madman's voice carried well, seething as if in Little Link's ear. He shut his eyes against the crooning voice.

"What have you done with him?" the boy leaked the dead even words to the darkness as if they were poison. The fettered creature on the floor chuckled. "Bastard! What have you done with him?"

"You're quite the ungrateful little pig, aren't you?"

"What did you do with Link?"

"I bet you cry yourself to sleep every night."

"Ganon! Answer me! What have you done with my brother?"

"It's no wonder no one loves you."

Rage boiled in Link faster than an arrow could hit home. In a flash of metal and anger, the Kokiri blade was at the crazed prisoner's neck, the torch clattering on the floor as it sputtered out, leaving the two locked in the dim, striped light from a barred window, catching in the fallen Hero's smirk and flaring against the Kokiri sword.

"You lie!" Link spat, "My brother loved me, and he still does! He's a better man than you will ever be, and it was him that helped me, not you! Ganon, you bastard, you demonic creature crawled from the depth of the Evil Realm! You may have possessed his body but YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER!"

And Link raised his sword, prepared to behead the man in front of him, to end this madness once and for all. The blade arched downward at the neck of his brother, ghostly bright in the lowlight.

But he was grabbed from behind, yanked away, the sword quickly pried from his grasp. It dropped to the floor, clanging and clattering.

And Jerome held a limp Hero of Time in his hands.

* * *

><p>AN: Geez Louise, cliffhangers for the win. But on a lighter note, the next two chapters will be posted this week. And they will be posted at the same time. Because guess what guys? They are the <strong>final chapter and the epilogue<strong>. No joke. I wrote them this morning.

And on a final note, I'm going to apologize for the extra week you guys had to wait for this. I have some very time-consuming commitments (besides this) that come up maybe once or twice a year and literally incapacitate me from doing anything else but wearing black and painting things black. But anyway, what did you guys think of this chapter ending? As in, what do you think happened? Please review!

Ninja out.


	12. A Future in Another Past

****I do not own the Legend of Zelda. And, as usual, I do not own the creativity to write an amusing disclaimer or opening author's note. But before the LAST CHAPTER of this fanfic, can I just apologize? I went back and read some of the earlier stuff, and it was pretty cheesy. I edited what I could...but it's amazing how much this thing has changed since Chapter One. Both in content and hopefully, quality.

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><p><strong>Chapter Twelve<strong>

_A Future in Another Past_

"Link! Link can you hear me?" Jerome held the littlest hero's head in his arms. The boy was breathing, thank heavens. His eyes fluttered once and stuttered awake, like a piece of film starting up.

"Jerome?" he said, gingerly holding himself up from the King's arms. "What happened?" he asked in a sleepy voice, raising his head. And then, amid the darkness, he saw his brother's slack form collapsed in his cell, hands and feet still fettered, head to the side and neck just out of view. And everything came rushing back to him.

"I killed him!" little Link shrieked, burying himself in Jerome's arms. "I KILLED HIM!" The panicked cries fragmented Jerome's heart, and in his arms little Link struggled to breathe, hyperventilating. He heard big Link's voice in his head, trying to calm him down. _"Breathe, Link, breathe. You can't breathe if you're hyperventilating. Hold your breath,"_ a memory reminded him, futilely attempting to drag the boy to a reality where he still had a brother. Obediently, more than willing to comply to the wishes of his lost friend, little Link sucked in his breath. He choked, tears streaking down his face as the pressure built up in his head, shaking against the war grief was tearing up inside of him.

"Hush, hush, everything's fine," Jerome tried, holding the boy's head. From what seemed like a world away, Zelda's trembling hand unlocked the fallen Link's cuffs. They clinked to the floor with a dead hopelessness as she laid her hand on the elder Hero's cheek. She and Jerome, along with the other sages had kept to the shadows to witness what would happen between little Link and his corrupted brother. Impa had kept them hidden from anti-Link's reeling eyes, and the Hero of Termina wouldn't have been able to see them anyway.

Rocking chaotically in Jerome's hold, the same Hero of Termina tried to calm his body into believing the unbelievable. "He's dead," he whispered, body and mind reeling with the cold thought. "I'm sorry," hysteria was building in his throat, "I'm sorry!" His voice piqued; the man who had taken him in when he was a child come in from the rain was dead at his hand.

"I KILLED HIM!" little Link howled, trapped in his own claustrophobic world of unimaginable truths he had committed. His hands frantically clenched and unclenched themselves in the folds of Jerome's robes. He never wanted to see the light of day again. He never—

"Shhh, shhh," a new voice soothed, this one lighter as it wrapped its arms around little Link, pulling him from where he'd burrowed into Jerome. "It's fine, Link, it's fine, you didn't hurt anyone."

Numb, little Link let himself be folded into the strength of this new body. "I killed him! I killed Link, my brother! I-I slit his throat with my sword!"

"Shhh," the voice, achingly familiar in a way that made the sobbing Link pour forth his sorrows, insisted, "No you didn't."

"But I did!"

And from the pile of trembling hero the comforting voice drew little Link's hand, gently placing it against an older neck. "Don't be silly. Does that throat seem slit to you?"

Little Link's head snapped up and locked eyes with big Link. "Link!" He cried, throwing his arms around his older bother's shoulders and burying his face in the Hero's tunic anew, sobs mixing with relieved laughter. Big Link laughed and hugged little Link in return, holding him close and swallowing the emotion that threatened at his eyes. They had come so close, he thought, so close to losing each other and themselves in the process. But they were fine. They were both fine.

Across from them, Zelda took Jerome's hand. "We need to send little Link back to his own time," she whispered, and the King nodded, folding her hand against his cheek.

"But let them have this moment."

Zelda nodded, even if Jerome couldn't see. "They deserve it. The curse is broken."

Jerome turned around. "How did that happen?"

"Loophole," Zelda dismissed, shrugging. "Ganon attacked Link and effectively erased him, leaving his body open for possession. But without Link, there was nobody to be little Link's brother and so the curse was rendered void, because their brotherhood was what triggered the curse in the first place."

"…..So how did Link come back?"

"Grace, I suppose," Zelda murmured. "But since the curse was broken Ganon had no hold on Link anymore."

"And how do we know the curse is broken?" Jerome continued.

"Well, look at them," Zelda motioned. "If it was still there, one of them wouldn't be."

* * *

><p>Little Link woke up, rubbing his sleepy eyes with a marked hand. He yawned and stumbled into the kitchen, where the sizzling of delicious, fluffy eggs greeted him. Big Link was making breakfast, just the way his brother liked it. Little Link plunked into his chair, reaching for the basket of bread on the table, fresh baked by Ariadne.<p>

"Did you get all your beauty sleep for Zelda?" teased big Link, ruffling the kid's sleep tussled hair. Little Link waved him off groggily and buttered his bread, shoving it in his mouth before even putting any jam on it. The taller Link chuckled as he slid an overloaded plate of eggs in front of Termina's Hero. The boy's appetite had increased three fold since they'd broken the curse. Big Link was glad; this finally meant the Hero's strength was back. The nightmares had receded too. Both Heroes knew they'd never fully go away, but Link was sleeping through the night again, as well as most of the morning, catching up on the months of dreaming he'd lost.

"Hey, if you have trouble again, make sure you get Zelda to send you back here," big Link added, lightly punching his still sleep-muddled brother, who didn't respond, unless shoving eggs in your mouth counted as a response. "I'll be here for you, brother," the oldest slipped out quickly, gazing at little Link sadly before diving into his own breakfast.

As happy as they both were spending aimless days together, Link and Link couldn't remain in the same timeline. Little Link had a destiny calling for him back with his Zelda, and though he never admitted it, big Link couldn't shrug the fact that, possessed or not, he'd tried to kill the Queen. And even if he masked it well, he knew that Jerome would never forget it either, even though he'd forgiven his country's savior. Big Link had decided it was time for him to move on.

And ever since his brother's arrival, he'd had a hankering to see Termina firsthand.

* * *

><p>Little Link rocked on his heels. Ariadne had dressed him up, having pressed his tunic to the extent the worn green fabric could be pressed, and even combed his hair, which Link had hid under a green cap that was too big for him. For once, it wasn't his hat. It was his brother's. Prince was wearing his hat. Even if, thanks to time-traveling, little Link was technically older than twelve, he couldn't deny the toddler his prize. Besides, he figured he owed Prince a parting gift. But at the sight of little Link's combed hair, big Link had hastily plunked his own, larger hat, on his counterpart. But he'd also patted little Link's head with a laughing "you'll grow into it," as the boy had lifted it out of his eyes, followed by a shoulder squeeze that young Link thought meant more.<p>

"But won't you need a hat?" he'd asked with a confused look.

"Ah, well…" big Link's voice trailed as his hand rose to his uncovered head. "Maybe…maybe it's time to forego the hat, y'know? Try something new?"

Little Link had looked at his brother like he was crazy.

"Yeah, you're right," the older had sighed, "But don't worry about it. I still have the zora tunic."

"But you had your adventure with this hat!" little Link had cried.

"_Your_ adventure, too, y'know. You can't forget that. Besides, now it's a piece of something to remember me by. And speaking of that…." big Link's voice had trailed and he stood there, rubbing his neck for a moment. "Why don't you take all of the green one?"

Little Link's eyes had gone wide with shock.

"No, I'm serious," big Link had said, and as little Link continued to stare at him, had gone to his dresser and unearthed the well worn green tunic.

"It doesn't even fit me!"

"Not yet," big Link had grinned, "but we are the same person, y'know. One day it _will_ fit you. Besides, you can always give it to your kids after that, too." And with that, big Link had passed on the Hero's clothes, little Link ducking his head in shame that he hadn't had anything to give his brother in return.

The King and the Queen, along with Prince, had come to see little Link off. The three of them, Link's big brother, and Ariadne were clustered around him in the Temple of Time. He ran the Ocarina of Time over nervously in his hands.

"Well, I guess this is it, little brother," big Link said with a grim finality. He squeezed little Link's shoulder one last time. Kid Link wondered absent-mindedly if his brother would miss being able to rub how tall he was in someone's face.

"Thank you for everything you've done," Zelda added.

"We owe you for what you and your brother have and will continue to do for our kingdom," the King said sincerely, with a low bow. Little Link stood in awe, and tried to return the gesture, but the King stopped him. "We owe you," he said, also looking at big Link, "our kingdom."

"Your majesty, it is my honor," little Link said, lowering his head.

From outside the circle Ariadne resisted the urge to fix little Link's hat and hair, and ended up wringing her hands instead. "Goodbye Link," she said, adding hastily, "and make sure you take care of yourself!"

Little Link cracked a smile, adding an "I will," for Ariadne before turning to say goodbye to Prince, who stood next to Zelda, wearing his new hat and sucking his thumb. "Bye, Prince," little Link said, "don't get into too much trouble, okay?"

"Okay," the toddler giggled, huddling next to his mom with a childish grin on his face.

Little Link turned at last to his brother.

Big Link had to clear his throat to speak. "Bye, Link," he choked. Little Link took one look the nineteen-year-old and rushed to hug him. "Thank you, for everything," he mumbled into his brother's shirt. The taller Link smiled, a laugh catching on one of his hiccups. Reluctantly, he released his little brother. "Now go get Zelda!" he whispered, and the little boy smiled, stepping back and drawing the blue flute from his pocket.

Little Link looked around at the people surrounding him, and he felt humbled by all their caring smiles, and his older brother, the tough guy's, tears. With one last goodbye and a final glance at his brother, he sighed into the mouthpiece of the ocarina and let his breath, with the careful nudging of fingers, carry him off and away on the notes of the song Zelda had taught him.

The air swirled with color. At first Link thought he was crying, but soon the floor melted into another dimension and he felt himself funneled away, funneled home.

The Temple of Time looked exactly the same way, except now in front of him stood Princess Zelda, a silly smile on her face.

"You're back!" she squealed, laughing at the surprise on his face at her reaction as she hugged him, grinning at the fact that really, she'd only been waiting a few minutes.

And little Link hugged her back, closing his eyes and smelling the sunshine off her hair. It smelled like the first time he'd seen her in the courtyard after sneaking past the guards, and it smelled like memories to be made. _Gee, you're getting older already,_ he could imagine his brother laughing.

And twelve-year old Zelda smiled all the wider as Link hugged her back. It had worked! It had really worked! The lines on his face were gone, as were the bags under his eyes. She had her Hero back, and she had to marvel at how he'd gotten here. And of course, thanks to her Triforce, she knew all about it. She quite liked this Triforce of Wisdom thing. There were so many perks, besides Link and all.

* * *

><p>Back in his timeline, big Link saddled Epona and, his bag packed, decided to inaugurate his new life with a new adventure. He rode across Hyrule field one last time. Termina was waiting.<p> 


	13. Every Good Hero Deserves an Epilogue

I do not own the Legend of Zelda. BUT I LOVE EPILOGUES!

***SPOILER WARNING* **DOUBLE SPOILER WARNING, BECAUSE READING THIS SPOILER WARNING ACTUALLY SPOILS THE ENDING OF THIS EPILOGUE, BUT I AM OBLIGATED TO TELL YOU ANYWAY**** there's a Wind Waker Spoiler here, about Tetra and the boat. So if you don't know who Tetra or the boat really are in the game, I don't know what to tell you. Except that you could read this anyway. I'm sorry, but it wasn't possible to write leave those spoilers out, so you have been warned. And sorry that I spoiled the end of the epilogue for you, it comes with the territory.

I've gotten several people telling me that the epilogue makes very little, if any, sense. And if you haven't spent a ridiculous amount of time using Zelda wiki to find the agreed upon timeline placement for each game before the official timeline was released and then regularly reviewing the official one after its release to make sure you had every hat in the right position to be used by the next Hero, that is completely understandable. And who does that, anyway? (Besides me..) So, here: **Twilight Princess is on the Child Timeline and Wind Waker is in the Adult Timeline. The Child Timeline is the Timeline Link was sent back to at the end of OoT, to regain his lost years. The Adult Timeline is the Timeline Big Link lives in, the one Link was sent back _from_. Big(Adult) Link lives in the Adult Timeline and Little(kid/child) Link lives in the Child Timeline.** That explanation was a long time coming, I'm sorry.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen<strong>

_Every Good Hero Deserves an Epilogue_

_Adult Timeline: Termina, 13 years later_

"Daddy! Jerome stole my hat again!"

Link sighed. He slowly got up from his chair on the porch of Romani Ranch. His years of protecting Hyrule had worn his body down, and he was feeling it now that he was older. "JEROME!" he bellowed across the yard. And from behind the chicken coop, Jerome Link, his son, crept out with a mischievous grin plastered all over a face that jolted many of Termina's residents back to a past where that little boy had been everywhere.

"Give Rinku his hat back," big Link said in a low voice.

"But Millie has mine!"

"Did you give it to her?"

"Yes."

"Did Rinku give you his?"

"…No."

"Then give Rinku's hat back."

The door swung open behind the Hero. "Link! Could you go fetch Romani for me? And why did the King of Hyrule send you a hat?" Cremia called, stepping out on the porch as, out in the yard, little Jerome sighed and plunked the hat on his little brother's head. Rinku, the youngest, split into a grin wider than the sun. "My hat!" he exclaimed.

"Sure thing, Cremia," Link answered, straightening his back. "Wait, what?"

Jerome's voice echoed up to the porch from he yard. "Come on," he said to Rinku, pulling out his wooden sword. "I'm gonna get you!"

Raising an eyebrow, Cremia handed Link the package. He took it, and found his little brother's hat in the folds of the brown paper, the same one Prince had been wearing the day the Hero of Termina had returned to his own timeline.

"Oh, it's from Prince, not the King," Link said distractedly.

"Oh, well, I'm _sorry_," Cremia said sarcastically.

"Oh no, don't worry about it," Link said, completely missing her tone, his mind buried in the letter. Cremia gave him an incredulous look but couldn't help but smile.

"Oh. Jerome heard we'd named a kid after him, and so the whole royal family decided to send their regards. Zelda says she hopes I'm doing well and Prince sends his hat, saying that he's long outgrown it but he's sure one of the kids could use it….and he says he's glad my brother gave it to him, he had his fun adventuring in it as a kid…..Jerome finds it really amusing that we both we named our firstborn sons after each other….and yeah, that's most of it." Link checked the date, and was taken aback to discover it was almost six months late. _Well, that's the lost woods for you_, he mused.

"So who gets the hat?" Cremia asked.

Link cast an eye over the yard before carefully saying, "I don't really trust the kids with it."

Cremia laughed. "You can give it to them when they're old enough, to be trusted then," she smiled.

"Well, I mean Cremia, Jerome just went and gave his hat to Millie, and she probably gave her hat to one of Anju and Kafei's kids, and well, you're the one who has to keep making them, you know how quickly they go through those things! They're always getting eaten by a cow or used in tug-of-war with one of the dogs, or something crazy like that. I mean, I don't hold the kids against it, it's just that…." His gaze took on a softer tone as it fell to the green fabric.

"It's just that this hat is special."

"Well, yeah. Link and I both had our adventures in this hat. And this was the hat little Link wore when he saved Termina. It was the hat he saved your farm in, don't you remember?"

Cremia smiled, "Unfortunately. I should have believed my sister."

"Well, it's a good thing that I believed my brother," Link grinned, putting the hat down and moving closer to his wife.

Cremia smiled back, leaning in as well.

"Ewww! Mommy and daddy are kissing!" yelled Millie, appearing from behind the barn.

Link laughed. "You won't mind so much one day, Millie!"

"No way! Boys are gross!"

"Hey!" exclaimed Rinku.

"It's true!" Millie retorted.

"Girls are gross-er!" Rinku retorted.

"Nu-huh!"

"Uh-huh!"

And from the porch, Link and Cremia couldn't help but smile at the antics of their kids, fingers laced together.

* * *

><p><em>Child Timeline: Hyrule Castle, 30 years later<em>

"You were always such a weird kid," Celia dismissed, waving her brother off as he sat on a horse in front of her, clad in the Hero's clothes his father had given him, for the sake of "good luck on the journey," he'd claimed.

"Hey, what can I say, the cowboy lifestyle calls to me," he said, flashing with a cocky grin. Celia rolled her eyes. Her brother's real name was Link, but everybody just called him Prince. His father, the Hero of Time, could never stop chuckling to himself about that fact. He'd meant to name his son after his brother, which Zelda had supported, but the nickname 'Prince' had stuck to the adolescent king-to-be. But as both he and his sister, Celia, grew up, it became clear that Celia was the competent one. The princeling had a knack for coaxing a hearty laugh out of his father with a well placed prank and for driving his mother to exasperation. He had a way with the common people, befriending the scullery boys and people in the market, and was an all-in-all jovial lad who joked about his name and about how he would settle the province to the south and become 'Mayor Prince'.

And that day had come. He was saddled up aboard his horse, wearing his dad's adventure tunic, packs brimming with supplies and eyes eager for the horizon. He'd collected a group of friends and acquaintances who were willing to start up a new life, and now he was bidding Celia, the future Queen, goodbye.

"You better write," she warned.

"Naturally, Celia. Of course I'll write. Just make sure good ol' dad doesn't get all serious while I'm gone."

"As long as you write _serious_ letters."

"Aww, but Celia, those are boring!"

"You gave mother a heart attack that one time you wrote home saying, 'Eloped with a bulbin. See you next reincarnation!' I mean really, that's not funny."

"Mom just needs to learn to take things less seriously."

"Or maybe you need to learn to write actual letters."

"Whatever, sis. I'm willing to bet it was you who had the heart attack. After all, mom's pretty cool with my jokes. She usually knows what's really going on, Triforce of Wisdom and all. You, on the otherhand…."

Before he could finish, Celia's face became a stormcloud. Prince threw his head back and laughed.

"You're gonna be the death of everybody with you."

"Or dawn. Hey, that's it!"

Celia's face sculpted hilarity. "What?" she asked, incredulous.

"Oh, come on, Ceci! Don't tell me you've gotten that lame. Remember when we were kids, mom was always saying I'd be the death of her and you compared it to twilight?"

Celia's face was comical, but still unconvinced.

"Because you said that we died if we entered the twilight zone or something? So twilight and death had some _correlation_?" he added, using the exact word he remembered her using. Celia had easily taken after her mother, and that was evident at an early age.

Celia gave Prince another look that indicated she thought he was crazy.

"Well, you did. And I'd always say I'd be the dawn of something, because dawn's the opposite of twilight."

Celia shook her head. "You're so weird."

"Whatever, big sis. Think what you want, I now have a new name for the province."

"What?" Celia asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Ordon!" Prince exclaimed, "Get it? Or-dawn?"

Celia shook her head. He was hopeless, he really was.

* * *

><p><em>Adult Timeline: 35 years later<em>

What the _heck_ had happened to Hyrule? And how the heck was he supposed to get back to Termina?

Jerome Link dragged himself to shore, confusion rolling in his head. All he'd wanted to do was deliver news of his father's death to the King, but now…..now he was a limp, exhausted body breaching the shores of an island he could've sworn shouldn't be there.

"Hey! There's a guy washed up over here! Somebody help!" a voice yelled. He heard commotion and the opening of doors and quiet voices as buildings wavered on the edge of his vision. A man bent over him, turning his body over. "He's alive!" the man hollered to the crowd, and Jerome heard echoes of people repeating the news.

"Can you hear me, buddy?" the man said gently.

Jerome coughed up some water. "Where am I?" he wheezed.

"Easy buddy. You're on Outset Island."

"Outset? Where's that? What happened to Hyrule?" Had the Lost Woods taken him somewhere random? That's how his uncle, the Hero of Termina, had ended up saving Clock Town.

"Easy buddy. You've been through a lot. We'll get you a dry place to sleep, no worries."

But as people whirled above him, Jerome couldn't help but wonder at what had happened to his father's home country.

"Here, drink this," a sweet woman's voice said, pressing a wooden bowl to Jerome's lips. Jerome drank and tasted soup. It cleared the fog of seawater from his brain in minutes. "What is this?" he asked, his consciousness revived.

"Elixir soup," the woman said proudly, smiling, "it's a very special recipe."

Jerome nodded. "It's very good," he said, swallowing a lump in his throat as he looked at the people around him. "So, what happened to Hyrule?" he asked.

"It was flooded," the man who'd found Jerome said solemnly.

"Flooded?"

"Yes. It's all at the bottom of the ocean now."

"Why—why was it flooded?"

"Ganon came back," said the woman with the soup.

"But this time there was no hero to save Hyrule," added another woman.

"So it was flooded and Hyrule sealed underwater," finished one of the men.

"Oh," Jerome said quietly, looking down in sorrow.

"Where do you come from?" someone asked.

"Termina," Jerome responded, taking a deep breath before going on. "I came to tell King Jerome, my namesake, that Link, the Hero of Time, my father, has passed away."

* * *

><p><em>Adult Timeline: Outset Island, 51 years after the Great Flood<em>

Link looked at the clothes his grandma had given him skeptically. "Now I know you don't want to wear them, but that hat is very special. Your grandfather Jerome brought it with him when he washed up on Outset. It was your great-grandfather's hat, and a boy in green wearing that hat saved the country of Termina. And even before that, the Hero of Time himself wore that as a kid. So don't look at it like its going to bite you dear, that hat is very lucky."

_It smells funny_, thought Link.

"It took me a very long time to find the right color of green for your outfit to match that hat, so you take care of it, dear. It's yours now, a birthday present."

_It still smells funny_, Link thought as he pulled it over his head, the smell of it engulfing him. _Great,_ he thought, _now my hair is going to smell like old hat. I thought birthdays were supposed to be happy._

* * *

><p><em>Adult Timeline: Immediately after the events of Wind Waker<em>

Tetra and Link lay back on the dock, fingers laced together.

"I can't believe you're Zelda," Link murmured, eyes closed, a smile playing his lips.

"And why is that?" Tetra said, opening one eye to look at him.

"Well, when I was young, my grandfather always used to tell me stories about his father."

"That sounds boring."

Link smiled. "Not when your great-grandfather is the Hero of Time."

Tetra sat up in shock. "_The_ Hero of Time?" she asked, unbelieving.

"The very same," Link answered, closing his eyes and feeling immensely proud, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Hmph," Tetra snorted at Link's smugness, lying back down on the dock again, warm in the glorious rays of sunshine. "My great-grandfather was named after your great-grandfather," she muttered.

Now it was Link's turn to bolt upwards in surprise. "No way," he breathed.

Tetra smiled surreptitiously. "Of course, your great-grandfather would've known mine as simply 'Prince'."

"As in, Prince Link, son of_ the_ Princess Zelda?"

Tetra couldn't help but smile at the innocent shock in Link's voice, the way his eyes were wide and his mouth open. "The very same."

"So, not only is your great-grandfather named after my great grand-father, but my grandfather is named after your great-great grandfather!"

Tetra's brow furrowed n conclusion. "…What?" she asked, her voice dubious, as usual.

"My grandfather was named Jerome! And Prince Link's father was King Jerome!"

Tetra gave Link a funny look. "Prince Link's father was King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule."

"Yeah," Link's voice fell for a moment, "but he went by Jerome back then. My great-grandfather knew him as Jerome."

"Jerome?" Tetra was skeptical.

"Yeah, his _full_ full name was King Daphnes Jerome Nohansen Hyrule," Link grinned at this trivia, but his face quickly fell. "Wait…this means that this whole time, my boat was the guy my grandfather was named after!" Link exclaimed, sitting up and placing his hands on his head in shock.

"Yeah, and the whole time, your boat was actually one of my relatives," Tetra added, smiling at how Link's expression changed from shock to one of almost horror at her revelation.

"That's crazy." Link sighed, sliding back unto the dock.

"And you still can't believe I'm Zelda?" Tetra teased.

"No, not really," Link grinned, unable to contain the joy that was bubbling up inside of him.

"Why?"

"Because, my great-grandfather never got the girl, never got Zelda, because of a fluke where he disappeared and she ended up marrying the King of Red Lions. And now, thanks to that, I have you."

"Don't tell me the Hero of Winds has gone soft!"

Link laughed, coiling his hand around hers again. "You have to admit, it's pretty insane."

"Yeah, sure, I'll give you that," she winked. Above them, gulls wheeled through the air.

"Well, thank you, Miss Tetra," Link said jokingly. She smiled at his jest and closed her eyes to feel the wind across her face, playing with the wisps of blonde hair hanging around her long ears. _No way on the whole Great Sea_, Link thought with another smile, _am I ever letting this one go._

* * *

><p>THAT'S RIGHT. THE ENTIRE TIME, THE BOAT WAS ACTUALLY JEROME.<p>

END.

HEYYYYYYYYYYYYY (cookies to whoever gets that reference) I'm sorry that Jerome's name actually should have been Daphnes for the entire fic. I, being a total genius, didn't notice that until I wrote the epilogue, despite the fact I'd had the epilogue planned since practically the Library scene. My bad, I didn't work out whose generation was whose until it was too late. Whatever. If I was a Daphnes, I'd probably go by my most normal middle name too. And for the record, I for one, will never treat my boat in WW the same way again. I'd also like to apologize, because I know several people have commented on Jerome as my OC, and I didn't correct them, mostly because at that point, he was an OC, but he isn't anymore, he is Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, property of Nintendo. I do not own Jerome. At least not the Jerome who married Zelda. Jerome Link, son of the Hero of Time, is an OC. Mwahaha! I named characters after each other! And I'm sorry for naming one of Big Link's sons Rinku, because I know a lot of other people have named Link-replicas that but I really, really, didn't want another plain old Link running around. There's already five, not counting the Goron named Link who never appears. That's more Links than in Four Swords!

Big Link: "Don't be silly. Does that throat seem slit to you?" Am I the only one who thinks that's an incredibly morbid line?

Oh, and for the record, this fic wasn't supposed to have any pairings and yet it has five, LinkxZelda, TetraxLink, DaphnesxZelda, CremiaxLink, and even OCxGrandma. I for one, am really happy of the fact I paired Granny with someone. But besides that, I didn't mean to yank anyone's chain by pairing up so many different Links (heehee I made a pun) in so many different directions. I was just trying to write an ending for this story. Preferably, an ending that made some amount of sense and didn't involve everybody dying. You can't always get what you want.

Also, I'm sorry for bringing up the hats repeatedly, I had to make sure TP Link ends up with an adult-sized hat and tunic, and WW Link ends up with a twelve-year-old or so sized hat, and for that to happen the hats had to switch timelines.

So...apparently, Little Link's emotional problems could only be solved by crossing timelines, riding a horse with his alternate self, getting trapped in an illusion, having his alternate self/only friend possessed by Ganon, and being stopped from killing his alternate self/only friend by a guy who eventually turns into a boat, and through all of this, breaking a curse. Thanks for reading guys. This makes no sense.

Ninja Out.


End file.
